Download AcuBase 2.003 User`s Manual

ACUBASE
2.003
TM
User’s Manual
Trigram Software, LLC
6114 La Salle Avenue, #230
Oakland, CA 94611 USA
Technical Support
Email
WWW
Phone
[email protected]
www.trigram.com
+1-510-654-3268 or
1-888-4ACUBASE
©1997-2003 Trigram Software, LLC. All rights reserved. AcuBase is a registered trademark of
Trigram Software, LLC. All other product names referenced herein are trademarks of their respective owners.
BY OPENING THIS PACKAGE, YOU HAVE CONSENTED TO BE BOUND BY THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL
OF THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, RETURN THE PRODUCT TO THE PLACE OF PURCHASE FOR A FULL REFUND.
TERMS APPLICABLE TO ALL LICENSE GRANTS
SCOPE OF GRANT.
You may:
* use the Software on any single computer;
* use the Software on a network, provided that each person accessing the Software through the network must have a copy licensed to that person;
* use the Software on a second computer so long as only one copy is used at a time;
* copy the Software for archival purposes, provided any copy must contain all of the original Software’s proprietary notices; or
* if you have purchased licenses for a 10 Pack or a 50 Pack, make up to 10 or 50 copies, respectively, of the Software (but not the Documentation), provided any copy must
contain all of the original Software’s proprietary notices. The number of copies is the total number of copies that may be made for all platforms. Additional copies of
Documentation may be purchased.
You may not:
* permit other individuals to use the Software except under the terms listed above;
* permit concurrent use of the Software;
* modify, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble (except to the extent applicable laws specifically prohibit such
restriction), or create derivative works based on the Software;
* copy the Software other than as specified above;
* rent, lease, grant a security interest in, or otherwise transfer
rights to the Software; or
* remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Software.
TITLE.
Title, ownership rights, and intellectual property rights in the Software shall remain in Trigram Software, LLC and/or its suppliers. The Software is protected by copyright laws and
treaties. Title and related rights in the content accessed through the Software is the property of the applicable content owner and may be protected by applicable law. This License
gives you no rights to such content.
LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER, & RESTRICTIONS.
Trigram Software, LLC warrants the disk(s) on which the Software is recorded to be free from defects in materials and faulty workmanship under normal use for a period of ninety
(90) days from the date of delivery. Trigram Software, LLC will, at its option, replace or refund the purchase price of a faulty disk at no charge, provided that you return the faulty
disk with the sales receipt to Trigram Software, LLC Trigram Software, LLC shall have no responsibility to replace or refund the purchase price of a disk damaged by accident,
abuse, or misapplication. Any implied warranties on the disks, including implied warranties or merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, are limited in duration to 90 days
from the date of delivery.
The Software is provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind, and Trigram Software, LLC expressly disclaims all implied warranties, including but not limited to the implied
warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Trigram Software, LLC does not warrant, guarantee, or make an representations regarding the use or the results of
the use of the software or any accompanying written materials in terms of their correctness, accuracy, reliability, currentness, or otherwise; the entire risk as to the results and
performance of the Software and written materials is assumed by you. Trigram Software, LLC does not warrant that the software will work correctly in your multi-user or network
environment. If the Software is defective, you assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair, or correction. If you live in an area that does not allow the exclusion of
implied warranties, this exclusion may not apply to you.
The limited warranties provided in the two paragraphs above are the only warranties of any kind made by Trigram Software, LLC on this product. No oral or written information or
advice given by Trigram Software, LLC shall create a warranty or in any way increase the scope of this warranty, and you may not rely on any such information or advice. This
warranty gives you specific legal rights. You may have other rights, which vary between countries and between states.
In no event will Trigram Software, LLC, or its developers, directors, officers, employees, or affiliates be liable to you for any consequential, incidental, or indirect damages (including
damages for loss of or inability to use the Software or accompanying written materials), even if Trigram Software, LLC or an authorized representative has been advised of the
possibility of such damages. Because some countries and U.S. states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitations
may not apply to you. Trigram Software, LLC’s liability to you for actual damages from any cause whatsoever, and regardless of the form of the action, will be limited to the greater
of $250 or the amount paid for the software that caused the damage.
LEGAL NOTIFICATION
All documents, source programs, procedures, and any other material supplied in connection therewith remain the exclusive property of Trigram Software, LLC Any use or copying
of such material that is not specifically authorized by this license agreement shall be deemed a violation of the agreement. Such violation will terminate the licensee’s right to use such
material and may render the licensee liable for both actual and punitive damages.
This notification constitutes a part of the documentation and accordingly may not be removed therefrom.
TERMINATION.
The license will terminate automatically if you fail to comply with the limitations described herein. On termination, you must destroy all copies of the Software and Documentation.
AcuBase documentation written and layed out by Jason A. Luban (Trigram Software, LLC).
©1997-2003 Trigram Software, LLC 6114 La Salle Avenue #230 Oakland, CA 94611 USA All Rights Reserved
Contents
Chapter 1
Installation of AcuBase
Hardware Requirements
Running the installation
Apple Macintosh
Microsoft Windows
Uninstalling AcuBase
Important Notes
What Else Is On The CD?
Recovering Damaged Files
Upgrades and Fixes
Backing Up Your Files
Moving AcuBase to a Different Machine
Registering Your Software
Further Help
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Chapter 2
Getting Started with AcuBase
About AcuBase
An AcuBase Overview
Main Menu
Patient Information & Billing
Insurance Companies and Referral Sources
Inventory
Vendor Information
Reference Library
Getting Around in AcuBase
Menus Versus Buttons
Entering Data
To Move To A Field
To Move To A Record
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To Save Data
To Add & Duplicate Records
To Delete Records
To Find Records
Replacing Fields in All Records
To Change Printer Settings
To Change The Look Of Invoices Or Activities
Getting Help
Quitting Out of AcuBase
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Chapter 3
The Main Menu
The Main Menu: An Overview
Using the Main Menu Buttons
Using the Command Menu Shortcuts
Setting and Changing the Preferences in AcuBase
Providers
Logo
Money / Tax
Billing Codes
Procedure Codes
Diagnosis Codes
More…
Billing Tab
Default Invoice
Patient Statements
HCFA 1500, Box 24
Show Procedures Description
Letters Tab
Forms Tab
E-Billing Setup Tab
Miscellaneous Tab
Main Menu Choice
Print Choice
Palm Synch Settings
Setting a Password
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Accessing Reports from the Main Menu
Getting Back to the Main Menu
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Chapter 4
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
Patient Information & Billing Database Overview
Using the Patient Information & Billing Database
The Four Form Views
The Patient Information Tab
General Information
Diagnoses / Medical Information
HCFA 1500 Preferences
The Insurance Information Tab
Insurance Verification Sub-tab
The Intakes & Activities Tab
Creating New Activities Related to a Patient
Call Record
Fax Entry
Office Visit
Initial Report
Patient Progress Report
Custom Form
The Billing Tab
Creating New Superbills
Creating A New HCFA Form Entry
Entering Other HCFA-Specific Data
Creating HCFAs from Superbills and Vice-Versa
Aligning the HCFA Form for Your Printer
Editing or Viewing a Past Transaction
Payment Entry Screen
Reports
Billing Reports
Billing Summary By Patient
Create Electronic Billing Batch
Detailed Summary of Products Sold
General Summary of Products Sold
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Patient Balances (Detailed)
Patient Balances (Summary)
Payment Summary (By Date Paid)
Payment Summary (By Patient Name)
Payment Summary (By Type of Payment)
Print Outstanding Invoices
Procedure Summary (By Date)
Procedure Summary (By Patient)
Procedure Summary (By Type)
Summary Aging (By Patient)
Summary Aging (By Period)
Summary by Date Invoice Printed
Summary Daily Report
Summary Of Ebilling Batches
Transaction Report
Transaction Summary By Month
General Reports, Letters, Marketing
Patient Information Report
Patients Phone Book
Avery 5160 and 5162 Labels
#10 Envelopes
New Patient Letter
Referral Thank You Letters
Birthday Letter
Custom Letters 1 and 2
View as List
Sorting Records
Creating New Records
Finding Records
Find All
Deleting Records
Printing
To Change The Look Of Invoices Or Activities
Getting Help
Getting Out of the Patient Information & Billing Database
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Chapter 5
Electronic Billing
Electronic Billing Overview
About Electronic Billing
Setting Up and Using Electronic Billing
Setting Up a Relationship with a Billing Clearinghous
Setting the Preferences in AcuBase for E-billing
Using AcuBase and the Internet to Submit Claims
Important E-billing Note
Report and Status of Electronic Claims
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Chapter 6
The Insurance Company & Referral Databases
Insurance Company and Referral Sources Databases Overview
Using the Insurance Company and Referral Sources Databases
View as List Mode
View as Form
Adding New Records and Modifying Existing Records
Finding Records
Find All
Deleting Records
Reports
Avery 5160 and 5162 Labels
#10 Envelopes
Phone Book
Getting Out of the Insurance Company or Referral Sources Databases
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Chapter 7
Using The Inventory Database
Inventory Database Overview
Using the Inventory Database
Adding New Items to the Inventory Database
Deleting Items in the Inventory Database
Finding Records
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Find All
Using the “Forward Record” and “Back Record” Buttons
Sorting Records
Reports
Product Inventory By Item Name
Product Inventory By Category
Product Inventory By ID Number
Product Inventory By Supplier
Blank Inventory Entry Sheets
Inventory Price List By Supplier
Inventory Price List by Category
Open to Buy By Category
Open to Buy By Supplier
Print Product Labels
Getting Help
Getting Out of the Inventory Database
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Chapter 8
The Vendor Information Database
Vendor Information Database Overview
Using the Vendor Information Database
Vendor Contact Information Tab
Vendor Literature Tab
Vendor Products & Inventory Tab
Editing and Adding New Vendors to the Vendor Products Database
Finding A Vendor
Find All
Deleting Items in the Vendor Information Database
Getting Help
Getting Out of the Vendor Information Database
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Chapter 9
The Reference Library Databases
Reference Library Databases Overview
Using the Reference Library Databases
View as List Mode
View as Form
Toggle Status Area
Sorting Records
Adding New Records and Modifying Existing Records
Adding Chinese Characters
Finding Records
Find All
Deleting Records
Printing Records (Reports)
Getting Help
Getting Out of the Reference Library Database
Features Specific to the Herbs and Formulas Databases
Related Herbs & Formulas
Checking Suppliers and Adding to Inventory
Duplicating Standard Formulas
Features Unique to the Patent Formulas Database
The Herb / Drug Information Database
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Appendix A
Frequently Asked Questions
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Appendix B
Technical Support
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x
Contents
Chapter 1: Installation of AcuBaseTM
Hardware Requirements
To run AcuBaseTM, you need the following minimum hardware and software:
•
any Macintosh with a Power PC 601 Processor or higher (including Mac OS X) with
at least 32 MB of RAM, or
•
an Intel compatible Pentium-class 486/33 or higher computer with 32 MB of RAM
•
a hard disk with at least 50 MB of free memory
•
a CD-ROM drive
•
Apple System 8.1 or higher, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000
Professional, Windows NT 4.0 (with Service Pack 3 or later), or Windows XP
•
a laser printer or high quality ink jet printer
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Installation of AcuBaseTM
Running the installation
Apple Macintosh (including OS X)
To install and run AcuBaseTM on a Macintosh that meets the above minimum requirements, do the following:
1.
Insert the CD into your CD drive (printed side up).
2.
Simply drag the AcuBaseTM folder from the CD onto your hard drive. (Do NOT drag
the Herbpix.tcm file over.) Mac OS X users should copy only the AcuBase for OS X
folder over. Other Mac users with OS 8.1 through 9.2, should copy the other
AcuBase folder.
Microsoft Windows
To install and run AcuBaseTM on a Windows-based machine that meets the above minimum requirements, do the following:
1.
Insert the CD into your CD drive (printed side up).
2.
From the Start button, go to Run.
3.
From within Run, type “x:\setup.exe”, where x: equals the drive letter of your CDROM drive.
4.
Once the install completes, you will be given the option of starting AcuBaseTM.
5.
AcuBaseTM creates an “AcuBase” folder, which it places under the “Programs” group
under the “Start” button. From within this folder, select the “AcuBaseTM” icon. The
program files default to reside in the “C:\Program Files\Trigram Software\AcuBase”
directory.
Installation of AcuBaseTM
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Uninstalling AcuBaseTM
•
To uninstall AcuBaseTM on a Macintosh, simply drag the AcuBase folder to the trash.
•
To uninstall in Windows, go to the Control Panels, Add/Remove Programs, and
remove AcuBaseTM. You may also remove the program from its default installed
directory at C:\program files\trigram software\AcuBase .
Important Notes
•
Always close AcuBaseTM before shutting down your computer. Since AcuBaseTM
saves as you go, it may not have saved all of your data if the computer is shut down
while the program is open. In most cases, the next time AcuBaseTM is opened, it will
recover whatever data was in the database the last time it was opened.
•
Do not move or rename any AcuBaseTM-related files. AcuBaseTM recognizes its files
only in their original form as they were installed from the CD, and will not work
properly if any file names or file locations are changed.
What Else Is On The CD?
In addition to the AcuBaseTM program files, you will also find:
•
A directory / folder called “Document.” This directory contains an Adobe PDF file
of all of the instructions available in this user’s manual, as well as a free, installable
copy of Adobe Acrobat for users who do not already have the program on their
computer. Double-click on either file to run it.
•
A directory / folder called “Ebilling.” This directory contains files you may need in
order to activate the electronic billing features of AcuBaseTM. See the Electronic
Billing chapter for more information.
•
Macintosh users may see two AcuBase install folders: one for Mac OS X, and the
other for all other Macintosh operating systems (8.x and higher).
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Installation of AcuBaseTM
Recovering Damaged Files
Power failures, hardware problems, shutting down your computer before quitting out of
AcuBaseTM, and other factors can damage the AcuBaseTM database files. If AcuBaseTM
becomes damaged, a dialog box will appear telling you to contact the AcuBaseTM developer. Once you know that a file is damaged, you can recover it.
To recover a damaged file,
1.
Try to open AcuBaseTM as you normally would, and press Option-Command
(Macintosh) or Control-Shift (Windows) while the file is opening. Hold the keys
down until you see the Recover File dialog box.
If you are able to open the AcuBaseTM Main Menu without difficulty, you may go to
the Commands menu and select “Recover Damaged File(s)”.
2.
Select “Mainmenu.TCM” (or whatever file AcuBaseTM tells you is damaged) and click
on the “Open” button. AcuBaseTM recovers the file, and saves a copy of the old,
damaged file as “Mainmenu Old.TCM.”
3.
Close the “Recover Damaged File” dialog box.
4.
Once AcuBaseTM is open, go to File, Save a Copy As, and save a compressed copy,
naming it Mainmenu.TCM (replacing the original file).
NOTE: Always close AcuBaseTM before shutting down your computer. Since AcuBaseTM
saves as you go, it may not have saved all of your data if the computer is shut down while
the program is open. In most cases, the next time AcuBaseTM is opened, it will recover
whatever data was in the database the last time it was opened.
Upgrades and Fixes
The makers of AcuBaseTM welcome your comments when you find bugs in our program
and/or if you feel that there are features that you might like to see included in a future
release of the program. Please e-mail suggestions to [email protected].
When bugs are found, or when we upgrade a file or add a new feature, the new or fixed
file may be found and downloaded from the Trigram Software web site at
www.trigram.com. While we do offer free updates to the program when bugs are fixed or
new features are added, we do charge an upgrade fee if we need to help you with your
upgrading of file fixing from the Web. We also when we upgrade to a new database
engine, as this upgrade often requires an import of data from your previous version, as
well as a new CD.
Installation of AcuBaseTM
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Backing Up Your Files
The makers of AcuBaseTM ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DATA LOST WHEN NO
BACKUP HAS BEEN MADE.
It is essential that you keep a backup of all files related to AcuBaseTM, as well as any and
all other mission-critical files that you use. This is your responsibility as a business person
and a prudent computer user. We recommend using a Zip Drive (By Iomega) on a daily
basis (use 5 disks—a separate disk for every day of the week), which can hold at least 100
megabytes of data on each ZipDisk. Any other media that may provide reliable backup of
at least 50 megabytes of data and is easy to restore in case of data loss may also be
employed. Note that backing up to a CD-RW makes the AcuBaseTM files read-only. If
you need to recover lost data from a backup on CD, you will need to select all of the files
after you’ve moved them to your hard drive, and then un-select the “Read-Only” designation in order to make your files modifiable.
Simply backing up the AcuBaseTM folder/directory (with the program CLOSED) will save
all data related to the program. Mac users, copy the AcuBaseTM folder from your hard
drive to your backup media. PC users, back up the AcuBaseTM directory, located at
C:\program files\trigram software\AcuBase (where “C:” equals the letter of your hard
drive).
Moving AcuBase to a Different Machine
Your software license permits you to install and use one copy of the program on one
machine only. Trigram Software does not support the use of AcuBaseTM in more than one
location or over a network.
Situations will arise where you may buy a new machine or wish to simply move the
program over to a different computer. Whether on a PC or a Macintosh (or between the
two), you may move your software from one computer to another by doing the following:
1.
Make a full backup of the AcuBaseTM directory / folder on your original computer (the
one you wish to move data from) per the backup instructions above.
2.
Install AcuBaseTM from the CD onto the newer computer (the one you wish to move
data to) per the installation instructions above.
3.
Copy the contents of your backup file (all of files in the AcuBaseTM directory / folder
on your backup media) into the newly-installed AcuBaseTM directory on the newer
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Installation of AcuBaseTM
computer, replacing existing files. (PC users, your files will be located at C:\Program
Files\Trigram Software\AcuBase by default, where “C:” equals the letter of your hard
drive). Again, you will copy all of the files inside of the AcuBase folder that you
backed up into the newly installed AcuBaseTM folder on the new machine. Simply
copying the backed-up AcuBaseTM folder and pasting it inside of the newly installed
AcuBaseTM folder will not work.
Registering Your Software
It is important that you register your copy of AcuBaseTM as soon as you receive the
program so that you may get support and upgrade pricing in the future. You may register
by sending in the registration card that is in the front of this manual, or by e-mailing your
name, address, phone number, date of purchase, and vendor name (from whom you
purchased AcuBaseTM) to [email protected]. You may also mail this information
to Trigram Software, Attn: Registration, 6114 LaSalle Ave., PMB 230, Oakland, CA
94611.
Further Help
AcuBaseTM comes with 90 minutes of free customer support. After that, we charge $99
per year for 10 hours of support and unlimited upgrades. Otherwise, the minimum charge
for support is $15 for the first 15 minutes, then $1.00 per minute after that, or $45 per
call, on your Visa or MasterCard.
Most AcuBaseTM help is available through the program itself, using the “help” buttons
located on almost every screen and in this manual. If you have tried these sources and you
are still having problems, please contact Trigram Software for further assistance with any
aspect of AcuBaseTM.
Note that your free 90 minutes of support does not include help related to how to do your
billing, i.e., which codes are appropriate to use, how many procedures to bill, etc. We also
charge for all help related to electronic billing (which is included in the $99 per year
support contract mentioned above).
For AcuBaseTM questions or problems, start by checking the Trigram Software support
page at www.trigram.com, or contact Trigram Software Monday through Friday from 9
AM to 5 PM US Pacific Time. Phone U.S. 1-888-4ACUBASE, 510.654.3268, or e-mail
[email protected].
Chapter 2: Getting Started with AcuBaseTM
About AcuBase
AcuBaseTM was developed by a team of programmers from Trigram Software, most of
whom are also intimately involved in various medical modalities. AcuBaseTM 2.003 is the
sixth major upgrade from the original, best-selling AcuBase Standard released in 1997.
The first version of AcuBaseTM was developed for use by clinicians of traditional Oriental
medicine. It included reference materials on herbal medicine, acupuncture, and preparation tools for those interested in sitting for the national board exams in these subjects. We
have since added practice management and billing features made to work for any medical
practice, and we currently serve practitioners in all major areas of medicine, both “mainstream” and “alternative.”
In this, the latest version of our practice management solution, we wanted to develop new
tools for the everyday practitioner that are at once practical and not overly complicated,
and to offer all of it at a bargain price. Most of the newest features available in this
version were suggested by existing users whose comments have made our program what it
is today. As an added benefit, and for anyone interested in pursuing traditional Oriental
medicine, we have left intact the option of viewing the Oriental medicine reference library,
which may be turned on or off through the Main Menu’s Preference button.
We welcome all comments and suggestions! If you have anything to suggest upon using
the program, please forward your comments to [email protected].
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Getting Started with AcuBaseTM
An AcuBase Overview
Recommended for practitioners, AcuBaseTM has what you need to manage your knowledge and your practice. AcuBaseTM is extremely intuitive and easy to use, even for those
who fear the sight of computers. It works on the Macintosh and PC, and consists of the
following components and features:
Main Menu
The Main Menu is your starting place from which you may access all of AcuBase’s power
and flexibility. New users should start by adjusting the Preferences to their liking before
using the rest of the program (by clicking on the Preferences button at the top-left portion
of the Main Menu screen). Use the Main Menu to jump to any of the main functions of
AcuBaseTM, and, perhaps most significantly, to set up and change the Preferences that will
be used throughout the program. Use the Preferences button in the Main Menu to:
•
Enter up to three user names, license number(s), tax id number(s), and company
names and addresses. This information is automatically printed on invoices, forms,
and throughout many different reports
•
Insert your own logo into AcuBaseTM. This logo not only appears on many of the
database screens, but may also be printed on several AcuBase forms.
•
Choose the currency you would like to use (dollars, pounds, francs, yen, etc.), and tax
rates for your products and procedures.
•
Set up procedures, as well as codes, modifiers, prices, and tax rates for each. Set up
diagnosis descriptions and codes, as well. Because so many of our users practice
Chiropractic and/or Oriental medicine, AcuBaseTM comes with many of the most
popular procedures for these modalities, and almost 2,000 diagnoses, with associated
U.S. CPT and ICD-9 codes.
Getting Started with AcuBaseTM
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Choose billing-specific defaults, including preferences for how you enter data,
determined by whether or not you use the HCFA 1500 form. You can change the
way your statements look, and may even type in text that you would like to appear on
HCFA forms by default.
•
Customize up to five different letters in AcuBase: A new patient letter, referral thank
you letter, birthday letter, and two other custom letters of your choosing.
•
Create a default patient intake form, initial report, and one custom patient-related
form.
•
Activate electronic billing.
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Set up a password entry system to protect your data and the privacy of your patients’
personal information.
•
Determine how your records print out of AcuBase. Will you preview them on the
screen first, then print, or would you rather just print them without previewing them?
Or JUST preview them on the screen and not print at all?
Patient Information & Billing
The Patient Information database was designed by practitioners around the way a clinic
typically functions. It integrates data from throughout AcuBaseTM, and includes great
features such as:
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General patient data, including insurance information.
•
Patient medical information, with diagnosis pop-up screens that may be easily edited.
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Full electronic billing capabilities.
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An activity list that gives you access to the details of all patient-related activity—
every phone call made, every fax sent, every intake taken, and even patient progress
reports—all at your fingertips.
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Getting Started with AcuBaseTM
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HCFA 1500 forms and Superbills that allow you to bill for services
as well as for products such as herbs and formulas.
•
Full integration with the rest of AcuBaseTM. Medical and billing
information, clinic address information, diagnoses, procedures,
prices, and even tax rates automatically flow through to superbills
and activity records. And products that are sold to patients are
automatically taken out of your available inventory!
•
Extensive reporting capabilities for all aspects of your practice.
•
Print out a personal “Contacts Phone Book.”
•
Print Avery labels to make mass mailings a snap.
•
Print out individual envelopes.
•
Print out new patient letters, referral thank you letters, and more.
•
Context-sensitive help available from any screen.
Insurance Companies and Referral Sources
The Insurance Companies and Referral Sources databases are a place for
you to enter commonly-accessed insurance company and referral source
information. These databases allow you to:
•
Enter an unlimited number of insurance companies or referrers.
•
Keep this information current in one place, and have it auto-entered
into the appropriate places in the Patient Information and Billing
database.
•
View lists of which patients were referrer by which referral sources,
as well as which patients have a given insurance company.
Getting Started with AcuBaseTM
•
2-5
Print insurance company or referrer mailing labels, envelopes, or phone books.
Inventory
Who could say they have a comprehensive office management solution without including
an inventory tracking system? If we sell products of any kind, we need to know how much
of each product we have on hand, how much we have sold, taxed, etc. In a busy practice
and without any guidance, keeping track of such inventory can be unmanageable. But with
AcuBaseTM, inventory tracking is not only manageable, it’s easy!
The AcuBaseTM Inventory database includes:
•
The ability to keep track of an unlimited number of items.
•
Full integration with the rest of AcuBaseTM. Automatic adjustments of available
inventory as items are sold to patients. All vendor information is related to each item
in inventory.
•
The option to set prices and even taxes on an item-by-item basis.
•
The ability to create categories (such as “Needles,” “Supplements,” or whatever other
category you may wish to use to classify the kinds of items you wish to track).
•
An intelligent “feeler” that tells you the last time you inventoried or stocked a given
item.
•
Customizable fields that allow you to determine the amount of an item to keep on
hand, what measurements to use (pounds, boxes, etc.), when to reorder a given item ,
and the number of each item currently open to buy (based on amount in stock).
•
Reports that allow you to sort and print all of your inventory (or only certain categories of it) by category, by supplier, or otherwise.
2-6
Getting Started with AcuBaseTM
•
Blank inventory sheets that lists all items by category to make taking a manual
inventory at your office(s) quick and easy.
•
Standard Avery labels for all items that include the amount to keep in stock and the
supplier for each item.
•
Context-sensitive help at every turn.
Vendor Information
Not only does AcuBaseTM come with thousands of records in its Reference Library, and
many useful practice management tools, but you may also enter information related to
your top inventory suppliers. In addition, for those who use Oriental medical supplements, we have already entered information from top suppliers. Trigram Software has
been given permission from some of the world’s top suppliers of herbs, formulas, patent
formulas, Oriental medical information, and related supplies to include their vendor and
product information in our databases. We have poured much of this information into our
Patent Formulas and Vendor Information databases. The Vendor Information database
allows you to:
•
Keep track of, edit, or delete available vendor contact information, including addresses, phone numbers, and other info.
•
Add, edit, or delete your own vendors and their related information.
•
For each vendor, view their related patent formulas, standard formulas, herbs, and any
products that you may have purchased from them and keep in inventory.
•
Link directly to any related patent formula, standard formula, herb, or inventory item
associated with a given vendor.
•
View copyrighted information supplied to Trigram Software with permission from top
vendors, including: Blue Poppy Herbs, K’an Herbs, Health Concerns, East West
Herbs, Evergreen Herbs and Medical Supplies, Golden Flower Chinese Herbs,
Mayway (Plum Flower and Min Shan), Chinese Modular Solutions, Spring Wind
Herbs, Tashi Enterprises (Min Tong), NuHerbs, Sun Ten / Brion Herbs Corp., and the
Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine and Preventive Health.
•
View available context-sensitive help at every turn.
Getting Started with AcuBaseTM
2-7
Reference Library
Not only does AcuBaseTM provide you with many great practice management tools, we
have also included a free traditional Oriental medical library, complete with almost 2,000
records: hundreds of formulas, herbs, points, review questions taken from state and
national board exam reading lists, and over 500 patent formulas and related information
from the top vendors in the industry! While this may sound great in itself, perhaps the
most valuable part of this library is what doesn’t come with it: your personal clinical
preferences and experiences, which each database has been designed to incorporate.
That’s right, the Reference Library has been designed to accommodate your techniques,
your preferences, and your clinical experiences.
The Reference Library features:
•
Almost 3,000 records: herbs, formulas, patent formulas, acupoints, a drug / herb
information database, and several hundred review questions.
•
Point-, herb-, and formula-specific layouts.
•
Chinese characters for herbs and formulas.
•
Full integration with the rest of AcuBaseTM. For each herb, view related formulas and
patent formulas, as well as vendors who supply each herb and how much you may
have in stock. For formulas and patent formulas, link directly to the vendors that
supply each formula and read through vendor-supplied information; adjust your
inventory; and link directly to the herbs in each formula with a click of the mouse.
•
Reports that print in a variety of formats, including index cards and formulas with
associated dosages and Chinese characters.
•
The ability to view potential interactions between the most popular prescription and
over-the-counter medications and herbal medicines, as well as a list of herbal equivalents to popular medications from John Chen, Pharm.D., D.O.M., L.Ac., founder of
Evergreen Herbs and the Lotus Institute. You may also view and print extensive
pharmacokinetic information written by Dr. Chen.
•
The ability to add, delete, and/or edit any information in any field, and add or delete
any records
•
Easy, flexible searches for symptom-specific data.
•
Sorting by any field with the click of a button.
•
A consistent, intuitive interface.
2-8
Getting Started with AcuBaseTM
•
Context-sensitive help available from any screen.
And all the other features that made our first AcuBase program the
standard for traditional Oriental medical reference software!
Getting Around in AcuBaseTM
In the following chapters, we will document the many different functions
and ways of using AcuBaseTM. While each portion of the program is
unique in its own way, the fact that all of the program was developed
from within Claris FileMaker Pro means that several basic rules apply to
the use of the program. What follows are how-to’s about some of the
most basic functions of AcuBaseTM …
Menus Versus Buttons
AcuBaseTM was created in FileMaker Pro 5.5. As a result, users have
access to many of the menu items at the top of the screen that FileMaker
provides.
We highly recommend that AcuBaseTM users stick to the buttons at the
top of each screen which have been provided. While you may add a new
record, for instance, from the File menu, the New Record button has
scripts that make sure that the integrity of the database is kept consistent. The one exception to this suggestion is the Commands menu. The
Commands menu has a list of commands for which keyboard shortcuts
may be used. These shortcuts, once learned, may provide faster
navigation through the program without the necessity of using the
mouse.
Entering Data
•
Type the data directly into a field, or
•
Select the data from a value list if the field is formatted to display
values with a pop-up list, pop-up menu, check boxes, or radio
buttons.
Getting Started with AcuBaseTM
2-9
To Move To A Field
•
Click in the field where you want to enter data.
•
Press Tab to move to the next field in the tab order.
•
Press Shift+Tab to move to the previous field in the tab order.
To Move To A Record
•
Press Command+Tab on the Macintosh or Ctrl+Down Arrow on the PC to move to
the next record or click on the lower page of the book icon in the upper left corner.
•
Press Shift+Command+Tab on the Macintosh or Ctrl+Up Arrow on the PC to move
to the previous record or click on the upper page of the book icon in the upper left
corner.
To Save Data
•
AcuBaseTM saves as you go, so there is never any need to click a “save” button.
To Add & Duplicate Records
•
To add a new record, choose the New Record button or New Record from the Mode
menu.
•
To duplicate a record, go to the record you want to duplicate and choose Duplicate
Record from the Mode menu.
To Delete Records
BE ADVISED! When you delete a record, you are permanently discarding the data you
entered in all the fields in that record! THERE IS NO WAY TO BRING BACK DELETED RECORDS UNLESS YOU HAVE MADE A BACKUP OF THE FILE.
You may delete any single record by simply clicking on the “Delete” button. You can also
delete a group of records, or all of the records in a file.
To delete a record:
1.
Select the record you want to delete by bringing it into view on your screen.
2-10
Getting Started with AcuBaseTM
2.
Click on the Delete Record button.
3.
In the message that appears, click Delete.
To delete a group of records:
1.
Perform a Find to select the group of records you would like to delete.
2.
Choose Delete All from the Mode menu.
3.
In the message that appears, click Delete.
To delete a whole line of codes:
If you wish to delete a whole line from the Procedures section of an invoice, or a whole
CPT or ICD-9 description and code from the database (including blank lines),
1.
Go to the line you wish to delete, and click between two fields so that the whole line
lights up / is selected
2.
Click on the “delete” or backspace key on your keyboard.
3.
In the message that appears, click Delete.
To Find Records
To find a record or set of records:
1.
Go to the layout you want to use to find records.
2.
Choose the Find button at the top of the screen.
3.
You see a blank find request that looks like a record without data.
4.
Type values in the appropriate fields.
5.
Click the Find button on the left side of your screen.
To perform an AND request, type multiple values into one or more fields on a single
find. To do an OR request, type each value on a new request by selecting New Request
from the Edit menu while in Find mode. To exclude records from a request, enter the
values you want to exclude from within find mode (as if you wanted to find them), and
then check the “omit” checkbox on the left side of the screen before clicking on the
“Find” button on the left side of the screen.
Getting Started with AcuBaseTM
2-11
You may also use an “operator” to further refine a search. The operators are the options
that come up when you click on the “Symbols” down-arrow on the left side of the screen
To find values that are
Use this operator
Less than what you type next
Less than or equal to what you type next
Greater than what you type next
Greater than or equal to what you type next
An exact match
Within the range you specify
Duplicate values
Today’s date
Invalid dates or times
One unknown or variable text character
Zero or more unknown or variable
text characters
Literal text in a field
(to find characters that aren’t indexed)
Empty fields
(for example, records of unfilled orders)
Example
<
<
>
>
==
_
!
//
?
@
*
<40 or <09/09/1995
<rrr or <05:00:00
>95129 or >10/10/1996
>baa or >8:00
==Smith but not Smithson.
12:30_17:30
! or !Smith
//
?
@on
*smith*
““
“Jean-Louis” or *”, Ltd.”
=
=
Once you have done a search (a “Find”) for a set of records, only those records are
available to view from that point forward. To bring all records in the database back into
the “found set,” click on the “Find All” button at the top of the screen.
Replacing Fields in All Records
There may come a time when you wish to change a given field in a part of AcuBaseTM and
have that change be identical throughout all of your records. For instance, you may wish
to change all patients from one provider to another. To do this,
1.
Do a find for all of the records for which you wish to replace the data in a given field.
In the example above, you may wish to find all patients who have “Dr. X” as their
provider.
2.
Go to the field you wish to replace the data in, and replace the data that is already in
there with the changed data. In the example, we would change one of the patient
records’ provider from the old, “Dr. X,” to the new data, “Dr. Y.”
3.
Once the data is changed, make sure your cursor is still in the field you wanted
changed, and hold do a “Cntrl + =” (the Cntrl key and the “equals” key on your
keyboard. Mac users, “Command + =”). You will see a dialog box that asks you if
2-12
Getting Started with AcuBaseTM
you would like to change the data in all of the other current records to match the data
in this record. Choose “Yes” and you have done it.
Note that, once the change has been made, it is immediately saved and cannot be undone
unless you go through the same process again (re-replacing the data with your pre-existing
data for that field), or recover from your last good backup.
To Change Printer Settings
AcuBaseTM reports are generally set up to print on U.S. standard 8.5" x 11" paper, Avery
labels, and #10 envelopes. To change these settings,
1.
Click on the report that you would like to print and view it in “Preview” mode.
2.
Go to the “File” menu and select “Print Setup…”
3.
Change your page setup to whichever standard you would like to use (different page
size, letter size, landscape vs. portrait view, etc.) and click “OK.”
4.
View the new settings in “Preview” mode before printing. NOTE: If you wish to use
a page setup that differs from the AcuBaseTM standard for any given report, you will
need to go through these steps each time you print.
To Change The Look Of Invoices Or Activities
If you own FileMaker Pro 5.0 or higher for Mac or PC, and know the program well, you
may change the look of your faxes, intakes, call records, patient progress reports, and/or
patient invoices/superbills. To do this,
1.
Open FileMaker Pro.
2.
From within FileMaker Pro, go to File, Open.
•
To change the look of activities such as faxes, intakes, call records, or patient
progress reports, open the Activities database from within the AcuBase folder on
your hard drive and go to each respective activity’s print layout. To change the look
of invoices/superbills, open the Billing database and go to the “Detailed Intake Print”
layout.
Getting Started with AcuBaseTM
2-13
NOTE: Trigram Software support will NOT assist you in the event that you attempt to
change default layouts and/or lose data after modifying the Activities or Billing databases.
If you decide to modify these files, it is assumed that you know and understand the
intricacies of FileMaker Pro, and you do so at your own risk!
Getting Help
To get help from any screen, simply click on the “Help” button for that screen.
Quitting Out of AcuBaseTM
To exit out of AcuBaseTM completely from anywhere in the program, simply click on the
File menu and select “Exit” or “Quit.”
2-14
Getting Started with AcuBaseTM
Chapter 3: The Main Menu
The Main Menu: An Overview
The Main Menu is your starting place from which you may access all of AcuBase’s power
and flexibility. New users should start by adjusting the Preferences to their liking before
using the rest of the program (by clicking on the Preferences button at the top-left portion
of the Main Menu screen). Use the Main Menu to jump to any of the main functions of
AcuBaseTM, and, perhaps most significantly, to set up and change the Preferences that will
be used throughout the program. Use the Preferences button in the Main Menu to:
•
Enter up to three user names, license number(s), tax id number(s), and company
names and addresses. This information is automatically printed on invoices, forms,
and throughout many different reports
•
Insert your own logo into AcuBaseTM. This logo not only appears on many of the
database screens, but may also be printed on several AcuBase forms.
•
Choose the currency you would like to use (dollars, pounds, francs, yen, etc.), and tax
rates for your products and procedures.
•
Set up procedures, as well as codes, modifiers, prices, and tax rates for each. Set up
diagnosis descriptions and codes, as well. Because so many of our users practice
Chiropractic and/or Oriental medicine, AcuBaseTM comes with many of the most
popular procedures for these modalities, and almost 2,000 diagnoses, with associated
U.S. CPT and ICD-9 codes.
•
Choose billing-specific defaults, including preferences for how you enter data,
determined by whether or not you use the HCFA 1500 form. You can change the
way your statements look, and may even type in text that you would like to appear on
HCFA forms by default.
•
Customize up to five different letters in AcuBase: A new patient letter, referral thank
you letter, birthday letter, and two other custom letters of your choosing.
•
Create a default patient intake form, initial report, and one custom patient-related
form.
•
Activate electronic billing.
•
Set up a password entry system to protect your data and the privacy of your patients’
personal information.
3-2
The Main Menu
Using the Main Menu Buttons
To access any of the features of , simply click on the button related to the function from
the Main Menu. Quitting out of any of the databases in AcuBaseTM will bring you back to
this Main Menu.
Using the Command Menu Shortcuts
Each database in AcuBaseTM
has keyboard shortcuts for
faster movement through
common areas of the
program without the use of
the mouse. In any given area
of the program, go to the
“Commands” menu to view
available keyboard shortcuts.
PC users combine the “Ctrl”
button with the number next
to each command shown;
Mac users combine the
Apple/Command button with
the number. In the Main
Menu, rather than clicking on buttons related to each area of the program you would like
to go to, you may use the Command Menu keyboard shortcuts.
Setting and Changing the Preferences in AcuBase
From the Main Menu, click on the “Preferences” button to access and modify settings that
are used throughout AcuBaseTM. You should set these preferences before you use the
program extensively! Click on the tabs (Address, Logo, Money/Tax, Billing Codes, or
More…) to access each respective category of settings. Note that these preferences take
effect from the time that you make them. So, for example, if you had already created
invoices or entered items into inventory before you changed the tax preferences, those
invoices and/or inventory items would retain the old tax rates that existed at the time those
records were created. This goes for virtually all settings within Preferences.
The Main Menu
3-3
Providers
Use the Providers tab to enter up to three user names and related contact information.
Provider license number and tax id numbers may also be entered here. This information
will be used when creating activity records and invoices. If you plan to do electronic
billing, you should avoid using in any of these fields (so “Jason Luban, MD, Ph.D” should
instead be entered as “Jason Luban MD Ph.D”. See the Electronic Billing section of the
user’s manual for further details on why commas are evil.).
The Provider ID Number Type field refers to the type of ID number being used. This field
also determines which box is checked on Line 25 of the HCFA 1500 form.
Important Note: Be sure that you have entered provider information here before you
begin entering patient information. The first thing you will enter in a patient record is the
provider assigned to that patient. If the provider preferences were not entered before the
patient was put into the database, provider information will not show up in box 33 of the
HCFA 1500 form. You will have to go back and reassign the correct provider to each
patient in the database to fix this (and/or use the “Replace All” feature, discussed in the
last chapter).
3-4
The Main Menu
Logo
The Logo preference allows the user to place their own logos into AcuBaseTM. The first
logo field (Letter Logo) is for the logo that will be used on all forms that AcuBaseTM
creates for you.
The second Logo field is the logo that will appear throughout the AcuBase screens. Most
companies/clinics will have the same logo in both logo fields.
The easiest way to place a logo in these fields is to open your logo in another graphics
program and copy it there. Once it is copied, switch back to AcuBaseTM and literally click
in the logo fields and select “Paste” from the Edit menu. To simply delete the Trigram
logo or any other, click on the logo field and hit delete or backspace on your keyboard.
Note that AcuBaseTM may reshape logos to some extent in order to have them fit properly
on screens and superbills.
Money / Tax
The Money / Tax tab is where you customize information related to currency and taxes.
Click on the currency field to select the currency symbol you will use throughout the
database (dollars, yen, pounds, etc.). This field allows users who do business in countries
outside of the United States to have AcuBaseTM use their currency. To change to a
different currency, simply click on the Currency Symbol field to get a pop-up list. The
default list includes currency symbols for the U.S. dollar, the British pound, the French
franc, the German mark, and the Japanese yen. If you need to use any other currency that
is not included on the default list, you can add to this pop-up list by going to the bottom of
the list and selecting “Edit…”
The Products Tax and Procedures Tax fields allow you to set default tax amounts for
products and services that you provide, and will show up in both the inventory database
and on invoices, respectively. Note that taxes on each product and service may be
changed within each record, as well. Tax percentages must be entered in decimals. So, if
your products are taxed at 5%, you would type “.05” rather than simply “5.” Note, too,
that, while a Products tax rate may automatically be entered when adding a new item to
inventory, if the tax rate is later changed, it will not change the tax rate on previously
entered inventory items. These items will need to be changed manually.
If the tax rate you charge for products changes, you may change the rate in the Products
Tax field, and then automatically assign that new rate to all existing inventory without
having to change each item manually in the inventory database. To do this, once you have
changed the Products Tax field to the new rate, click next to the field where it says, “Click
here to apply a new tax amount to all existing inventory.”
The Main Menu
3-5
Billing Codes
The Billing Codes tab gives you access to both procedure and diagnosis codes. These are
the lists that pop up when using the Patient Information and Billing databases.
AcuBaseTM comes with many of the most popular procedures and diagnoses requested by
our users, with associated U.S. CPT and ICD-9 codes. You can simply click into any of
the procedures or diagnoses listed to change or delete them, as well as adding modifiers,
prices, tax amounts (%) for each procedure, and your own codes. To create new procedures or diagnoses, simply scroll to the bottom of the list and enter them on the last, blank
line. Note that the lists will automatically alphabetize as soon as you click outside of
them.
If you wish to print a list of all of your procedure or diagnosis codes, click on the pink
button labeled “CLICK HERE to print codes” at the bottom-right side of the screen.
To delete a whole line (a code or diagnosis), or a blank line, see the “Deleting Records”
section in Chapter 2.
3-6
The Main Menu
More…
The More… tab has several subtabs:
Billing: The Billing tab has several options for customizing the way you interact with
AcuBaseTM.
The Default Invoice option allows you to select whether you tend to print general
superbills or HCFA 1500 forms most frequently, and adjusts the inner program defaults
accordingly.
The Patient Statements option allows you to change the message that appears at the
bottom of statements you may send to your patients.
The HCFA 1500, Box 24 options allow you to enter default information that will automatically appear on each line of the HCFA invoice upon entering the dates of service.
Though you may have parts of your invoice auto-entered, you can still change those fields
on each invoice if you wish.
The Main Menu
3-7
Show Procedures Description allows you to choose whether or not you wish to print the
name of each procedure onto your HCFA forms on line 24 D (when set to “Yes”). When
set to “No,” only the CPT code and modifiers are printed there.
Letters: The Letters tab allows you to customize five letters in the program: A New
Patient letter; a Referral letter; a Birthday letter; and two custom letters of you choosing.
Simply click on the name of the letter to go to the preferences for that letter. Note that
when you change the name of your custom letters, the name you have chosen becomes the
name of the letter throughout the program. Each letter may not exceed one page in length
when printed.
Forms: The Forms tab allows you to customize the three patient-specific forms in the
database. These forms are accessed from the Intakes / Activities tab of each patient’s file.
To change the name of each form, click and change the “Name of this form” field. The
default information entered into each form can also be changed by clicking in the form and
changing what you wish. You may also create and name one custom form.
E-Billing Setup: This tab is accessed when you wish to use the electronic billing capabilities of AcuBaseTM, and you will set E-billing to “On” when you are ready to do electronic
billing. If you are interested in using electronic billing, please follow the instructions in the
Electronic Billing section of this user’s manual.
3-8
The Main Menu
Miscellaneous: This tab, of course, contains several random settings that don’t have
anywhere else to live.
The first setting, Main Menu Choice, is also set the first time you open AcuBaseTM. It
gives you the choice of three Main Menus: one showing billing and practice management
databases; one showing the oriental medicine reference library, and one (the default)
showing both. You may also access and change these settings from the bottom of the
Main Menu screen where it says, “To Change Your Main Menu Preference(s), click
here.”)
The Print Choice field allows you to choose whether or not you see a preview before you
print anything out of AcuBaseTM. You may choose to have AcuBaseTM give you a preview
before you print anything; print without a preview; or preview but not actually print.
Palm Synch Settings refers to the fact that certain aspects of the databases in AcuBaseTM
may also be synchronized and viewed on handheld devices running the Palm operating
system. For more information on this feature, see the Palm-related questions in Appendix
A: Frequently Asked Questions.
The Main Menu
3-9
Set a Password for AcuBase, like the Main Menu Choice above it, gives you a choice of
setting a password the first time you open the program. By default, the password is set to
be blank, meaning that you do not need a password to use the program. Whether or not
you currently have a password set to restrict access to your AcuBaseTM database, you can
always return to this part of the Preferences to change your password, add a new one,
and/or get rid of all passwords altogether.
When you click on this option, you will be taken to the “Choosing A Password” window.
You will first enter your existing password to verify that you have the rights necessary to
change the master password. On the second line, you will enter your new password, and
then on the third line, re-enter it to verify that you did not accidentally type an incorrect
new password in the line above.
If you haven’t used a password in AcuBaseTM before, leave the “Current Password” field
blank. If you currently have a password and wish to turn off the password entry altogether, enter your current password, and leave both the New Password and Verify New
Password fields blank.
When your new password has been accepted, click “OK” to continue. You will then be
asked to verify that you know the database’s password before you are allowed to continue. In this window, and whenever you open the password-protected program, you will
have two chances to enter a correct password before the program closes again. You will
only be asked for a password when the program opens, but may also be asked for one
when leaving the Drug-Herbs database. Note that passwords, as they are entered, will
show up as blank on the screen (you will not be able to see the text as you type it in).
Passwords are not case-sensitive.
Note: If you choose to use a password and later forget it and/or get locked out of the
program for any reason, Trigram Software will charge you a fee to unlock your program
and reset the password to blank.
3-10
The Main Menu
Accessing Reports From The Main Menu
A “Report” is a term used by AcuBaseTM to describe any data which is printed from the
database. Thus a report may be a patient phone book, mailing labels of insurance company addresses, envelopes, or a true report of income versus expenses related to your
practice. This screen allows you to access frequently printed reports related to billing,
inventory, and office management directly from the Main Menu. Click on the appropriate
tab to access billing- and inventory-related reports.
Note that all reports in AcuBaseTM may be run from within the specific database to which
they refer (i.e., Billing reports can be run from the Reports layout within the Patient
Information & Billing database; Inventory reports can be run from the Reports layout
within the Inventory database; etc.). On some machines, after you have selected and run a
report from this screen, you will be left at the Reports window within that database. (For
example, if you select a billing report, after the report is run, you may be left at the
Reports window within the Patient Information and Billing database.) If you wish to
return to this window to run further reports, simply return to the Main Menu and click on
the Reports button.
There are many other reports in the AcuBaseTM program which do not appear from the
Main Menu’s Reports button, and which should be accessed from the Reports button
within the database you are looking for. This includes reports related to herbs, formulas,
patent formulas, review questions, and drug-herb interactions from the Reference Library.
Reports related to insurance companies and referral sources (such as mailing labels,
phones books, etc.) should also be accessed from within those specific databases.
For more specific information on individual reports, check out the chapter associated with
the reports. To get more information on the billing reports, for example, check out the
Billing and Patient Information database chapter in this manual.
Getting Back to the Main Menu
Return to the Main Menu at any time, from any database, by simply clicking on the “Main
Menu” button at the top of the screen. Attempting to open any AcuBase database
directly without using the AcuBase program executable will also give you the option of
returning to the Main Menu.
Chapter 4: Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
Patient Information & Billing Database Overview
The Patient Information & Billing database was designed by medical professionals, for
medical professionals. It integrates data from throughout AcuBaseTM, and includes great
features such as:
•
General and HCFA-specific patient data
•
Patient medical information, with diagnosis pop-up screens that may be easily edited.
•
An activity list that gives you access to the details of all patient-related activity—
every phone call made, every fax sent, every intake taken, and even patient progress
reports.
•
Billing invoices that allow you to bill on a superbill or HCFA 1500 form, and to bill
for products such as herbs and formulas, as well as services.
•
HCFA 1500 form billing that includes: the ability to adjust the alignment of the
HCFA form in small increments to ensure that your printer places the fields appropriately onto the form; line-item payments; a one-stop payment entry screen for each
patient; and much more.
•
Full integration with the rest of AcuBaseTM. Medical and billing information, clinic
address information, diagnoses, procedures, prices, and even tax rates automatically
flow through to superbills and activity records. Products sold to patients may appear
in the Reference Library and are automatically taken out of your available inventory.
•
Print reports related to your billing
•
Context-sensitive help available from any screen.
4-2
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
Using the Patient Information & Billing Database
Upon clicking the Patient Information & Billing database icon from the Main Menu, you
are taken directly to “View As List” mode, where patients are presented in alphabetical
order. You may also view the provider name, patient phone numbers, payment type, and
total balance due from this screen, and may sort by any one of these categories by simply
clicking on the sort button found next to each of these fields’ names. To get more details
on a given patient’s record, click on “View As Form” at the top of the screen, or click on
the blue button to the left of each patient’s name. This will take you to the first of four
“Form Views” available in the Patient Information & Billing database. To go from one
record to the next in Form View, simply click on the arrow buttons to go forward or
backward. Context-sensitive help is available from every screen. Just look for the “?”
button at the top and/or bottom of the screen.
Note that, on all Form View screens, the patient’s ID number (assigned by the database),
name, date of birth, and social security (or internal identification) number are provided at
the top of each Form View screen. The patient ID number field is created by AcuBaseTM,
but may be modified as long as it remains a unique number. Patient name, date of birth,
and social security number may be modified from the Patient Information tab only.
The Four Form Views
Four separate tabs are shown in Form View to allow users to access different kinds of
information about a given patient. As with any part of AcuBaseTM, you may use the Tab
key on your keyboard to move from one field to the next. You may also switch from one
screen to the next using the Commands menu and its associated keyboard shortcuts.
The Patient Information Tab
The first screen you see when entering a new patient or going to the “View As Form”
screen for a given patient is the Patient Information screen, with the option of clicking on
the Insurance Info tab, as well as the Activities and Billing tabs.
This is the default screen you will see when you enter a new patient or view data on an
existing patient in your database. This screen is divided up into five major subsections:
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
4-3
Patient Contact Information, Phone/E-mail, General Information/Notes, Diagnoses/
Medical Information, and HCFA 1500 Preferences for This Patient.
As you tab through each field, start by entering the Provider, the Last Name, First Name,
Date of Birth, and Social Security Number or other ID number of this patient. Note that
the ID # / SS # field fills line 1a on the HCFA 1500 form. Note, too, that these fields may
only be modified from this screen.
The date the patient record was added to AcuBaseTM, as well as the last date the patient
record was modified in any way, shows below the four tabs and above the Patient Contact
Information section. You are informed as to whether or not a New Patient Letter has been
printed for this patient in a message that appears in red letters under these dates. Whether
or not a letter has been printed, you may click on the message to print a letter. (New
Patient letter settings are found under “Reports” under the “More…” tab of the Main
Menu’s Preferences button.)
From this point forward, you may note that many of the fields have titles that include a
HCFA line number. This number refers to the box number on the HCFA 1500 form where
the field data will appear.
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Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
Next, you will enter the patient’s address, emergency contact info, and any phone numbers
and/or email addresses. You may enter as many numbers or email addresses as you wish,
and the list will show as you entered it (it will not alphabetize).
General Information
After that, you will tab down to the General Information section, where the patient’s sex,
classification, referrer information, and any general comments may be entered as they
relate to this patient. The Patient Classification field allows you to classify your patients by
their “type,” i.e., Worker’s Comp, Cash Paying, Insurance Paying, etc. You can edit these
classifications by selecting “Edit…” at the bottom of the pop-up field’s list, or just hitting
the Esc key on your keyboard or click once in the field to type whatever you would like
there. The Patient Classification field also appears in List View, and can be useful when
finding appropriate patients for reports.
The Referred By field also pops up a list, in this case from the Referral Sources database.
If you do not have any referrers listed there, or would like to enter one that is not on the
list, simply hit the “Esc” key on your keyboard, or click once in the field. Like the New
Patient Letter before it, you are informed as to whether or not a Referral Thank You
Letter has been printed for this patient in a message that appears in red letters under the
referral source. Whether or not a letter has been printed, you may click on the message to
print a letter. (Referral Thank You letter settings are found under “Reports” under to
More… tab of the Main Menu’s Preferences button.). Note that the referrer must be in
the Referral Sources database in order for the Referral Thank You letter to function
properly.
The General Comments field is a memo field where you can write anything you like about
the patient which is not applicable to any other fields in this section of the database.
Diagnoses/Medical Information
In the Diagnoses/Medical Information section, up to four diagnoses may be entered.
These diagnoses will appear on superbills as well as on the HCFA 1500 form’s line 21.
Each diagnosis pops up with a list of the approximately 2,000 diagnoses provided from the
Billing Codes tab of the Main Menu’s Preferences button. The list is alphabetical by
condition. When you select a condition, the corresponding U.S. ICD-9 code is automatically entered. You may skip through this list when it pops up by typing the first few
characters of a given diagnosis. You may also hit the “Esc” key on your keyboard or click
into the field to make the pop-up list disappear, at which point you may enter any other
diagnosis which may not already be on the list. To add new diagnoses to the pop-up list,
do so from the Billing Codes tab of the Main Menu’s Preferences button. If the diagnosis
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
4-5
you want is not on the list, you may also double-click on the diagnosis field and put in
your new diagnosis and code manually. Then, from that point forward, the new diagnosis
will appear in the pop-up list (assuming you also gave it a unique code).
The Diagnoses section also provides a memo field, “Other Medical Information,” where
you may enter any other general medical information related to this patient. Note that
Date of Illness / Injury fields (Lines 14 and 15 on the HCFA form) appear in the next
section.
HCFA 1500 Preferences
The fifth and final section on the Patient Information screen is the HCFA 1500 Preferences
For This Patient. This screen may also be accessed from the Billing tab as the “HCFA
Details” button; and from within each HCFA 1500 invoice onscreen as the “View Other
HCFA Details For This Patient” button at the bottom of the screen. The fields on this part
of the screen must be filled out in order to properly complete a HCFA 1500 form. Simply
tab through each field, entering data as appropriate for the patient’s HCFA form printing.
Note that each field has an associated HCFA line number for easy reference. The large
pink button at the bottom of this screen allows you to jump straight to the billing section
of the HCFA forms via the AcuBaseTM Billing tab. We recommend that you have information entered into the Insurance Info tab for each patient before you begin using the Billing
tab.
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Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
The Insurance Information Tab
The Insurance Information tab leads to the insurance information screen, where all
insurance-related information is kept for a given patient. In this section, you will tab
through and select several different fields that relate directly to the HCFA 1500 form. You
may also select a sub-tab, “Insurance Verification,” to enter information related to if and
how the patient’s insurance companies pay for your services.
AcuBaseTM allows you to enter up to three different insurance companies for a given
patient. In order to select which company to bill by default, simply select company
number 1, 2, or 3 from the “Select Insurance Company to Bill” field. Note that, when you
choose change an insurance company to bill (1, 2, or 3), the company chosen will be billed
from that point forward. All previous invoices will retain the original insurance company
information from before the change was made.
Within each “Insurance
Company” section on
this screen, you may
click on the pink “Popup to Auto-Fill” button
to select from a pop-up
list of all companies
you have pre-entered
in your Insurance
Companies database.
If you do not have any
companies listed there,
or would like to enter
one that is not on the
list, simply hit the
“Esc” key on your
keyboard, or click
once in the field to
clear it, and then enter
the insurance company
information you would
like.
Each insurance
company information
section also includes
specific fields for that
company’s policy
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
4-7
group number, the insured’s employer, the provider’s Pin or Group number. All of these
fields have related HCFA line numbers to which they refer. If you do not plan on using a
HCFA form for this patient or insurance company, you will not usually need to put data
into these fields.
Insurance Verification Sub-Tab
The Insurance Verification tab within the Insurance Information section allows you to
enter information related to if and how the patient’s insurance companies pay for your
services. Any information that does not fit the definition of the fields provided may also
be entered in the Notes field. Three verification sections are offered in relation to the
three possible insurance companies that a given patient may have on file.
The Intakes & Activities Tab
The next major tab, the Intakes & Activities tab, allows you to view, enter, and print
events, or activities, related to the patient. All activities are shown in list format in date
order. Note that Activity entries of multiple pages may have up to two lines cut off at the
bottom of the page depending upon what kind of printer you have. Most individual
Activity entries will print up to 25 pages.
4-8
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
Creating New Activities Related to a Patient
When you click on the New Activity button, you are presented with six choices of
activities to create: a call record, a fax, an office visit (intake), an initial report, a patient
progress report, or a
custom form. For the
office visit, initial
report, and custom
form, information may
be auto-entered, and
the name of the form
may change, depending upon how you
have set up your
preferences from the
Preferences section of
the Main Menu
(More… / Forms tab).
Click cancel to cancel the creation of a new activity record. (If you wish to change the
look of any of the following activities, see the “To Change The Look Of Invoices Or
Activities” section later in this Chapter.)
Call Record
If you choose to create a call record, you will be presented with the Call Record screen.
The contact’s ID, name, and the date that the action record (the call record) was created
are automatically entered for you. You can click on the Action Status field to display a list
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
4-9
of the status of this call (whether the call is open, closed, in process, etc.). You may edit
this status list and add your own choices by clicking on the Action Status field and
selecting “edit…” Enter all the information you would like to about this call in the Notes
field. When you are finished, you may print the call record by clicking on the Print Call
Entry button; you may choose to list all of the other activities related to this patient by
clicking on the View As List button; you may choose to return to the Patient Information
& Billing database; or you may return to the AcuBaseTM Main Menu.
Fax Entry
If you choose to create a fax, you will be presented with the Fax Entry screen. On this
screen, all you need to do is enter who the fax is going to, who it is from into the From
field, and type in any message that you want to have appear on the cover sheet in the Fax
Message field.
You may print the fax by clicking on the Print Fax button; you may choose to list all of the
other activities related to this patient by clicking on the View As List button; you may
choose to return to the Patient Information & Billing database; or you may return to the
AcuBaseTM Main Menu.
Office Visit
If you choose Office Visit, you will be presented with the Office Visit Intake screen. On
this screen, you have an unlimited amount of space to write as much as you would like to
about a given patient intake. The patient’s name, provider, today’s date, and the status of
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Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
the intake may be viewed at the top of the screen. You may change the date or the status.
The auto-entered information, as well as the title of this form (“Office Visit Intake” by
default) may be edited from the “More.. / Forms” tab of the AcuBaseTM Main Menu’s
Preferences.
As with any part of AcuBaseTM, you may change fonts, font sizes, alignment of text, etc.
from the Format menu. You may print the office visit by clicking on the “Print this Intake”
button; you may choose to list all of the other activities related to this patient by clicking
on the View As List button; you may choose to return to the Patient Information & Billing
database; or you may return to the AcuBaseTM Main Menu..
Initial Report
If you choose Initial Report, you will be presented with the Detailed Initial Report screen.
This is the form you may use for the a more detailed initial or follow-up consult with a
patient. The auto-entered information, as well as the title of this form (“Detailed Initial
Report” by default) may be edited from the “More.. / Forms” tab of the AcuBaseTM Main
Menu’s Preferences.
As with any part of AcuBaseTM, you may change fonts, font sizes, alignment of text, etc.
from the Format menu. You may print the office visit by clicking on the “Print this Intake”
button; you may choose to list all of the other activities related to this patient by clicking
on the View As List button; you may choose to return to the Patient Information & Billing
database; or you may return to the AcuBaseTM Main Menu.
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4-11
Patient Progress Report
If you choose Patient Progress Report, you will be presented with the Patient Progress
Report entry screen. The Patient Progress Report is intended to be used as a form that
you may send to insurance companies or to the practitioner who may have referred this
patient. On this screen, you may tab through each field and enter relevant information.
Several pop-up menus appear, all of which may be edited by going to the “Edit…” option
at the bottom of any given pop-up list. Diagnoses are automatically entered from your
entries in the Medical Information tab, but may also be changed.
When you are done entering data in the Patient Progress Report entry screen, you may
print the report by clicking on the “Print” button; you may choose to list all of the other
activities related to this patient by clicking on the View As List button; you may choose to
return to the Patient Information & Billing database; or you may return to the AcuBaseTM
Main Menu.
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Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
Custom Form
If you choose Custom Form, you will be presented with the Custom Form screen. This
form may initially be customized by you from the “More.. / Forms” tab of the AcuBaseTM
Main Menu’s Preferences.
As with any part of AcuBaseTM, you may change fonts, font sizes, alignment of text, etc.
from the Format menu. You may print the office visit by clicking on the “Print this Intake”
button; you may choose to list all of the other activities related to this patient by clicking
on the View As List button; you may choose to return to the Patient Information & Billing
database; or you may return to the AcuBaseTM Main Menu..
The Billing Tab
The fourth tab in the Patient Information & Billing database is the Billing tab. Upon
clicking on this tab, you are taken to the Patient Billing Record, a summary list sorted by
date of all of this patient’s invoices. You may view the date of the invoice (HCFA or
“Superbill”), the invoice number, the last date the invoice was printed, the total amount of
the invoice, the amount paid, the amount adjusted, and the ending balance for each invoice
(if any). The sum of all outstanding invoice totals may be seen at the bottom of the screen
in red type (“Total Balance Due”). To get details on any given invoice, simply click on the
button to the left of the invoice date.
Using the buttons on the bottom of the screen, as you can see, you may create a new
Superbill invoice, a new HCFA 1500 form invoice, align the HCFA 1500 form for your
printer, or go to a Payment Entry screen. Note, too, that, by clicking on the blue button to
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
4-13
the left of any previous billing transaction, you will be taken directly to that transaction/
invoice. If you click on a blue box next to a blank line (a blank line will always appear at
the bottom of the Patient Billing Record list), you will be given a new, blank Superbill or
HCFA invoice to fill out. When clicking on this button, whether you go directly to a
Superbill or HCFA-related screen is determined by the preferences you set up in the
“More…” tab from the Preferences button on the Main Menu. If you had set the Default
Invoice field to “Superbill”, you will automatically go to a superbill screen. If you set the
field to “HCFA 1500 Form”, you will go to a HCFA form. Either way, from either a
superbill or HCFA invoice screen, you can switch from one to the other by clicking the
appropriate button at the top of the invoice your are looking at.
Creating New Superbills
To create a new superbill, click on the “New Superbill” button at the bottom of the screen.
This will take you to the Superbill Entry window. At the top of the screen, you will see
that the patient’s name, invoice number, and the billing date (today’s date) have already
been entered. Only the date field may be modified. The Date Printed field is filled in each
time you print the invoice. The Status field returns values of “Paid In Full” or “Balance
Due” depending on the payment status of the invoice. Tab through the fields to enter data.
The first section of the superbill is the Diagnoses section. Up to four diagnoses should
already be entered here from the diagnoses you had previously entered in the Diagnoses
section of the Patient Information screen. Whether or not data is entered here, you may
click on the Description field next to each number (1 to 4) to see a pop-up list of diagnoses in the database. Each diagnosis field pops up with a list of the close to 2,000
diagnoses provided from the Billing Codes tab of the Main Menu’s Preferences button.
The list is alphabetical by condition. When you select a condition, the corresponding ICD9 code is automatically entered. You may skip through this list when it pops up by typing
the first few characters of a given diagnosis. You may also hit the “Esc” key on your
keyboard or click into the field to make the pop-up list disappear, at which point you may
enter any other diagnosis which may not already be on the list. To add new diagnoses to
the pop-up list, do so from the Billing Codes tab of the Main Menu’s Preferences button.
Next is the Procedures / Treatment Modalities Used section. You may enter up to six
treatments here. Enter the date of each procedure. When you tab over to the Procedure
Description field, you will see a pop-up list taken from the Procedures list in the
AcuBaseTM Main Menu Preferences. Click on the appropriate procedure, and it’s code,
price, and taxed amount (if any) will auto-fill. Like the Diagnoses pop-ups above, the list
of procedures is alphabetical. When you select a procedure, the corresponding CPT code,
if any, is automatically entered, along with any price or tax you have set up. You may skip
through this list when it pops up by typing the first few characters of a given procedure.
You may also hit the “Esc” key on your keyboard or click into the field to make the popup list disappear, at which point you may enter any other procedure which may not already
4-14
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
be on the list. To add new procedures to the pop-up list, do so from the Billing Codes tab
of the Main Menu’s Preferences button.
If you tend to use the same procedure on virtually every invoice, you may set AcuBaseTM
up to auto-enter it into each new invoice (superbill or HCFA). This can be done from the
“More…” tab of the Main Menu’s Preferences button, under the “HCFA 1500, Box 24”
field. (If you do not use HCFA forms, just fill in the Box 24D preference.)
The next section, Products Bought, is for products that are sold to patients. Click on the
Product Name field to see a pop-up list of all available products in the Inventory database.
Select the one you want to auto-fill the other fields, and enter the amount (quantity) for
each item. You may skip through this list when it pops up by typing the first few characters of a given product. You may also hit the “Esc” key on your keyboard or click into the
field to make the pop-up list disappear, at which point you may enter any other product
which may not already be in inventory. To add new products to the pop-up list, do so
from the Inventory database. You may also change the price of a given item, even when
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
4-15
the price you have in Inventory for the item has already populated the “price” field, by
simply clicking on the price and changing it.
(Note that your “amounts” for each item must be consistent with the measurements used
in the Inventory database. For example, if you buy an herb by the pound, and then sell
some of that herb to a patient, it is assumed that you are selling it by the pound! This is
the only way that AcuBaseTM can accurately keep track of how much of a given item you
have sold since last stocking it in inventory.)
4-16
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
The Payments section allows you to keep track of anywhere from one to several payments
made to the invoice. To apply a payment to a specific procedure, put it on the same line as
the procedure. Otherwise, to record any other kind of payment (such as a lump-sum
payment from the patient, a co-pay, etc.), go to the bottom of the list and fill in the
payment in the blank space provided below the last procedure, recording only the “Date
Paid,” “Paid By,” “Amount Paid,” and “Adjustment” fields. The “Paid By” field is a
modifiable pop-up list intended to record the method or source of payment. You may
select something from the list, or hit the “Esc” key on your keyboard or click into the
field to make the pop-up list disappear, at which point you may enter whatever you like.
To add new items to the pop-up list, scroll to the bottom of the list and select “Edit…” If
the amount paid is lower than the actual amount of the procedure, use the “Adjustment”
field if you wish to write off the difference. For instance, if you charged an insurance
company $45 for myofascial release, but they only paid $35, you may wish to simply write
off the $10 difference, in which case you would enter “10” in the “Adjustment” field. You
may also have AcuBaseTM do the adjustment calculation for you. After you have entered
the amount paid for a given procedure, if it is less than the price charged, you can tab or
click into the “Adjustment” field and click on the word “Adjustment;” go to the Commands menu and click on “Auto-Calc Adjustment for this Line-Item”; or simply use the
keyboard shortcut: Cntrl+0 in Windows, or Command+0 on a Macintosh.
The final field on the Superbill Entry screen is the Notes field. Enter any notes that would
like to have attached to this invoice. This field does not show up on the printed invoice.
When you are ready to print the invoice, click on the “Print Superbill” button at the top of
the screen. This will take you to a preview of the invoice, which will include your clinic
name and logo (from the Main Menu Preferences’ Logo tab); an invoice number; patient
address and insurance information; diagnoses (from the Patient Information database); the
procedures and products you billed for; the monetary totals; and a line at the bottom of the
page for your signature. Note that you are limited to printing 15 products on the invoice.
The buttons at the top of the Superbill entry screen allow you to: List all of the other
invoices related to this patient by clicking on the View As List button; may switch to the
HCFA Entry screen for this invoice; print this invoice onto a HCFA form; print an
envelope to the insurance company related to this invoice; delete the invoice; return to the
Patient Information & Billing database; or return to the AcuBaseTM Main Menu.
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
4-17
Creating A New HCFA Form Entry
To create a new HCFA entry, go to the Billing tab within the Patient Information and
Billing database for any given patient. Click on the “New HCFA” button at the bottom of
the Billing Information screen. This will take you to a new screen which allows you to
enter data for the current treatment(s).
At the top of the screen, you will see that the patient’s name, invoice number, and the
billing date (today’s date) have already been entered. Only the date field may be modified.
The Date Printed field is filled in each time you print the invoice. The Status field returns
values of “Paid In Full” or “Balance Due” depending on the invoice. Tab through the fields
to enter data.
The first section of the HCFA Entry screen is only important if you have activated and are
using electronic billing (see instructions later in this chapter). The first field, “Send or
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Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
resend this invoice in next batch?”, will be set to “No” by default unless you have turned
on AcuBase’s electronic billing (E-billing) feature (in the Preferences section of the Main
Menu, under the “More… / E-billing” tabs). When electronic billing is set to “On” from
Preferences, this field will automatically be set to “Yes” each time a new invoice is created.
A “Yes” here indicates that this invoice should be included in the next batch of invoices
that are sent in to the billing clearinghouse for electronic processing. Once a batch has
been sent in that includes this invoice, the field will automatically be sent back to “No” so
that it is not resent in future batches. The date that the invoice was last sent in as part of
an E-billing batch will be indicated in the “Date invoice last sent as E-bill” field.
If you have modified an invoice after it was sent, and/or desire to resend an invoice as part
of a future E-billing batch for any reason, you may click on “Yes” in the “Send or resend
this invoice in next batch?” field.
Again, if you are not using the E-billing features of AcuBaseTM, you do not need to do
anything in the “Electronic Billing” section of the HCFA Entry screen.
The next section of the HCFA Entry screen is the Diagnoses section. Up to four diagnoses
should already be entered here from the diagnoses you had previously entered in the
Diagnoses section of the Patient Information screen. Whether or not data is entered here,
you may click on the Description field next to each number (1 to 4) to see a pop-up list of
diagnoses in the database. Each diagnosis field pops up with a list of the close to 2,000
diagnoses provided from the Billing Codes tab of the Main Menu’s Preferences button.
The list is alphabetical by condition. When you select a condition, the corresponding ICD9 code is automatically entered. You may skip through this list when it pops up by typing
the first few characters of a given diagnosis. You may also hit the “Esc” key on your
keyboard or click into the field to make the pop-up list disappear, at which point you may
enter any other diagnosis which may not already be on the list. To add new diagnoses to
the pop-up list, do so from the Billing Codes tab of the Main Menu’s Preferences button.
Next is the Procedures / Treatment Modalities Used section. You may fill out up to six
procedures (acupuncture, cupping, etc.). This part of the entry screen is designed to
emulate the look and feel of Lines 24 a-k on the HCFA itself. Fill out the dates of service,
Place and Type codes. When you click on the “Procedures” field, you will see a pop-up
list of procedures from the Preferences in the AcuBaseTM Main Menu. Choose the
procedure you would like to bill for, and the appropriate CPT code will automatically be
placed into the CPT field. If the procedure you are looking for does not appear on the list,
double-click on the Procedure field to enter your own and give it the appropriate code and
price, and/or enter in the Main Menu Preferences in the future. Per HCFA regulations,
you may bill for up to 6 procedures on one form.
If you tend to use the same procedure on virtually every invoice, you may set AcuBaseTM
up to auto-enter it into each new invoice (superbill or HCFA). This can be done from the
More… tab of the Main Menu’s Preferences button, under the “HCFA 1500, Box 24”
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4-19
field. Fill out as many of the Procedures fields in this field as you like, and those preferences will be auto-entered each time you put in a new procedure date.
The Outside Lab field refers to line 20 of the HCFA 1500 form. If you do plan to charge
for outside lab costs on this invoice, click on the “Yes” radio button here, and enter up to
two charges.
(Note that your “amounts” for each item must be consistent with the measurements used
in the Inventory database. For example, if you buy an herb by the pound, and then sell
some of that herb to a patient, it is assumed that you are selling it by the pound! This is
the only way that AcuBaseTM can accurately keep track of how much of a given item you
have sold since last stocking it in inventory.)
The Payments section on this screen is identical to that of the Superbill Entry screen. It
allows you to keep track of anywhere from one to several payments made to the invoice.
To apply a payment to a specific procedure, put it on the same line as the procedure.
Otherwise, to record any other kind of payment (such as a lump-sum payment from the
patient, a co-pay, etc.), go to the bottom of the list and fill in the payment in the blank
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space provided below the last procedure, recording only the “Date Paid,” “Paid By,”
“Amount Paid,” and “Adjustment” fields. The “Paid By” field is a modifiable pop-up list
intended to record the method or source of payment. You may select something from the
list, or hit the “Esc” key on your keyboard or click into the field to make the pop-up list
disappear, at which point you may enter whatever you like. To add new items to the popup list, scroll to the bottom of the list and select “Edit…” If the amount paid is lower than
the actual amount of the procedure, use the “Adjustment” field if you wish to write off the
difference. For instance, if you charged an insurance company $45 for myofascial release,
but they only paid $35, you may wish to simply write off the $10 difference, in which case
you would enter “10” in the “Adjustment” field. You may also have AcuBaseTM do the
adjustment calculation for you. After you have entered the amount paid for a given
procedure, if it is less than the price charged, you can tab or click into the “Adjustment”
field and click on the word “Adjustment;” go to the Commands menu and click on “AutoCalc Adjustment for this Line-Item”; or simply use the keyboard shortcut: Cntrl+0 in
Windows, or Command+0 on a Macintosh.
The final field on this screen is the Notes field. Enter any notes that would like to have
attached to this invoice. This field does not show up on the printed invoice.
If you have other field on the HCFA form that have not been entered properly, you may
click on the “View Other HCFA Details for This Patient” button on the bottom of the
screen.
When you are ready to print the invoice, click on the “Print HCFA” button at the top of
the screen. This will take you to a preview of the invoice before it prints. Whether the
HCFA prints out completely, or only the fields print (because it is designed to be printed
ONTO a pre-existing HCFA 1500 form that has been loaded into your printer) depends on
the way you have set up your print job (see the “Align HCFA” button below).
The buttons at the top of the HCFA Entry screen offer many options. The two help
buttons allow you to either go to a help screen to see all of the features of the HCFA
Entry screen (the “Screen Help” button); or go to the HCFA Help screen (“HCFA Help”
button), which shows a HCFA form with all of its fields. If you do not know where to go
in AcuBaseTM to fill in a given field on the HCFA form, simply click on the HCFA Help
button, and then click on the part of the HCFA form you have a question about.
AcuBaseTM will take you to the appropriate part of the program to fill out the part of the
form in question.
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Other buttons at the top of the HCFA Entry screen allow you to switch to the Superbill
Entry screen for this invoice; view all invoices for this patient; print this invoice onto a
HCFA form; print this invoice onto a Superbill; print an envelope to the insurance company related to this invoice; delete the invoice; return to the Patient Information & Billing
database; or return to the AcuBaseTM Main Menu.
Two notes related to the way the total cost of procedures are calculated:
1.
If you created a HCFA for a given patient visit, and also wish to bill for products
(which may not be placed on the HCFA form as a procedure), click on the “Superbill
Entry” button at the top of the screen. You may then enter products onto the same
invoice from the Products Bought section of the superbill entry screen. The Total
Charge on the HCFA 1500 form (line 28) will not include any charges related to
products sold.
2.
If you switch from the HCFA Form view of this invoice to the Superbill Entry view
(by clicking on the “Superbill Entry” button at the top of the screen), outside lab
costs, if any, may be calculated into the total cost of procedures on the superbill.
Entering Other HCFA-Specific Data
There are many fields which must be filled on the average HCFA form. Aside from the
obvious (name, address, diagnoses, procedures), there are also many less obvious (Plan
Type, Patient’s Relationship to Insured, etc.). In order to fill out the less obvious fields,
which we call “HCFA Details” for a given patient, you must click on the “HCFA Details”
button. This button may be found on the bottom of any HCFA Entry screen, and clicking
on it will take you to the Patient Information tab in the Patient Information database—the
same place you start when you add a new patient to AcuBaseTM. These fields, most of
which are designated by a HCFA line number, only need to be filled out once per patient,
and may be changed at any time.
To enter HCFA details for a given patient,
1.
For each patient, click on the “HCFA Details” button on the bottom of the HCFA
Entry screen, or simply go to the “Patient Information” tab of the Patient Information
database.
2.
Simply scroll down to the HCFA Preferences section and tab through each field,
filling them out appropriate to the patient. Note that most fields will also refer to a
given line or lines on the HCFA itself. Note that you only need to fill these fields
ONCE for each patient in the database, and only for those for whom you will be
printing HCFA forms. If you will only be printing Superbills for a given patient, you
will not need to fill out the fields on this part of the Patient Information screen.
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Creating HCFAs from Superbills and Vice-Versa
If you wish to create a HCFA from a previous Superbill (or vice-versa), it’s easy.
1.
Return to the transaction for which you would like to print a HCFA or Superbill (see
“Editing or Viewing a Past Transaction,” below). This takes you to the Superbill
Entry screen for this transaction.
•
If you wish to print a HCFA from a superbill, simply click on the “HCFA Entry”
button at the top of the Superbill Entry screen for a given invoice and then fill out the
appropriate fields. Be sure that all HCFA details are filled out for this patient, as well
(see “Entering Other HCFA-Specific Data,” above). Click on the “Print HCFA”
button at the top of the screen when you are ready.
•
If you wish to create a Superbill from an existing HCFA, click on the “Superbill
Entry” button at the top of the HCFA Entry screen for a given invoice, and then fill
out any other appropriate fields on the superbill, clicking on the “Print Superbill”
button when ready.
2.
Return to the Patient Information database by clicking on the “Return to Patient Info”
button.
Aligning the HCFA Form for Your Printer
AcuBaseTM gives you two options for HCFA printing. The first is to print a pre-printed
HCFA directly onto the printer from the computer. (Note that most insurance companies
will NOT accept HCFA forms printed directly from the computer, as they prefer the
standard, double-sided, pink HCFA 1500 forms. For this reason, we do not support this
feature of the program.) The second, and most accepted by insurance companies, is to
print the data from the computer onto a blank HCFA form which you place in your printer.
These forms may be ordered from most medical supply houses. We recommend contacting The Supply Center at 818-710-6868 or 800-549-5993.
Because every printer is different in the way that it aligns forms, we have provided several
options to get your forms printing into the correct fields properly. To align the forms
properly, print a HCFA form from the computer, and measure how far off the print job
may be (whether or not the fields print within the appropriate boxes). If they do not…
1.
Click on the Align HCFA button on the bottom-left side of the Billing screen of the
Patient Information database, or from the top of any HCFA Entry screen. This will
open the HCFA format and alignment screen.
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2.
On the left side of the screen, choose whether you wish to print onto a blank HCFA
form in your printer (HCFA), or do a pre-printed one (Pre-Printed). If you choose to
print onto a blank form, you may choose the alignment options to the right at any
time, as necessary, to adjust for your particular printer. (If, upon adjusting these
settings, you are still unable to print into the fields of the HCFA properly, contact
Trigram Software to arrange for a custom printer alignment.)
3.
Once you have chosen your HCFA printing method, and have aligned the forms for
your printer, you only need to visit this screen if you get a new printer. The settings
made on this screen are static until you change them.
Editing or Viewing a Past Transaction
After creating an invoice (HCFA or superbill), you may wish to return to that transaction
to make edits, to delete it, or to apply payments. To do so,
1.
Go to the Billing tab within the Patient Information database. This will take you to
the Billing Information screen.
2.
Choose the transaction you wish to view by clicking on the button to the left of the
transaction date in the list of transactions. This will bring up the transaction in a
HCFA or Superbill window (depending upon the preferences you set under the
More… tab in the Main Menu’s Preferences section). You may make edits from here.
3.
Click on the “Return to Patient Info” button to close this window, or print the HCFA
or Superbill out by going to the appropriate button at the top of the screen.
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Payment Entry Screen
From the Payment Entry screen, you may apply line-item payments to any invoice without
having to go directly to each invoice’s “Payment Entry” section. You may access the
Payment Entry screen from either the View All Invoices mode when you are viewing all of
the invoices for a given patient (you will see an “Enter Line-Item Payments” button at the
top of the View as List screen); or you may click on the “Payment Entry” button at the
bottom of the Billing tab screen in the Patient Information database.
The Payment Entry screen shows a list of all transactions related to a given patient sorted
by the date of the transaction. Clicking on the blue box to the left of each transaction
takes you to that transaction’s invoice.
This screen works much the same as the “Payment Entry” section on the HCFA Entry or
Superbill Entry screens. To apply a payment to a specific procedure, put it on the same
line as the procedure. The “Paid By” field is a modifiable pop-up list intended to record
the method or source of payment. You may select something from the list, or hit the
“Esc” key on your keyboard or click into the field to make the pop-up list disappear, at
which point you may enter whatever you like. To add new items to the pop-up list, scroll
to the bottom of the list and select “Edit…” If the amount paid is lower than the actual
amount of the procedure, use the “Adjustment” field if you wish to write off the difference. For instance, if you charged an insurance company $45 for myofascial release, but
they only paid $35, you may wish to simply write off the $10 difference, in which case you
would enter “10” in the “Adjustment” field. You may also have AcuBaseTM do the
adjustment calculation for you. After you have entered the amount paid for a given
procedure, if it is less than the price charged, you can tab or click into the “Adjustment”
field and click on the word “Adjustment;” go to the Commands menu and click on “AutoCalc Adjustment for this Line-Item”; or simply use the keyboard shortcut: Cntrl+0 in
Windows, or Command+0 on a Macintosh.
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To record any other kind of payment (such as a lump-sum payment from the patient, a copay, etc.), go to the bottom of the list and fill in the payment in the blank space provided
below the last procedure, recording only the “Date Paid,” “Paid By,” “Amount Paid,” and
“Adjustment” fields.
Other buttons at the top of the Payment Entry screen allow you to go to the current
invoice (depending upon which line-item have you have the cursor in); print all of the
invoices onto Superbills or HCFA forms (useful if you wish to rebill for outstanding
balances after some payments have been made); or Find All, which shows all invoices for
all patients in alphabetical and date order. You may also choose to return to the Patient
Information & Billing database or return to the AcuBaseTM Main Menu.
Reports
Click on the Reports button from within the Patient Information and Billing database to
print out billing reports, or more general reports (a personalized phone book, Avery labels,
letters, or envelopes related to the patients in your Patient Information database). You
may also go to the Reports button from the Main Menu and select the Billing tab to access
these reports.
To create a report, click on the “Report Name” field to see a pop-up list of available
billing- and patient information-related reports. When you select a report from the list, the
report’s description appears below it. When you are ready to run the selected report,
click on the “Run Report” button. On all other Report screens throughout AcuBaseTM,
simply click on the button related to the report that you would like to create.
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For almost all of the reports you may elect to run in AcuBaseTM, you will first be taken to
the “Report Title”
screen, where the name
of the report appears
and may be modified as
you wish. After you
have selected the report
name and clicked the
“Continue” button, you
will be taken to a screen
where you can refine
your search for the
records you will be
reporting on (the “Find
Info for Reports” screen). A number of fields may be used to perform a “Find” here. If
you wish to print a report reflecting data related to all of your records, simply click on the
“Find” button, or the “Continue”
button on the left side of the
screen, without entering any data
in the fields. If you do wish to find
and report on only certain records
(say, only a given patient, or only a
give billing date range), you can
enter that on this Find screen, and
then click Find to continue. There
are specific characters necessary in
order to find a range, greater than,
less than, etc. See the “To Find
Records” section of the “Getting
Started with AcuBaseTM” chapter
in this user’s manual for details on
how to refine your searches.
Once the Find has been completed,
you will see a print preview of
your report before it is printed. If you like the way it looks, click “Continue” on the left
side of the screen to go to the print dialog window for your printer. If the report does not
look right or you would not like to print it, simply click “Continue” on the print preview
screen, and then click “Cancel” when your printer’s print dialog window.
Important note about printing reports: On some occasions, the print preview of a report
may look good, but when you go to print, the printed version only prints one line of data
in the report. If this happens, go to print the report again and, when your printer’s print
dialog window comes up (the first window after the print preview), make sure that “Print:
Records Being Browsed” is selected, rather than “Print: Current Record.”
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Billing Reports
What follows are summaries of each report that can be printed from the Patient Information and Billing database’s Reports screen.
Billing Summary By Patient
This report lists each patient alphabetically and shows their totals billed, paid, adjusted,
and outstanding.
Create Electronic Billing Batch
If you have activated the electronic billing features of AcuBase, you will be sending a file
to the billing clearinghouse which contains all of the current invoices that you would like
to have billed. This report creates the latest batch file of invoices which you will then send
through the Internet to the billing clearinghouse. The billing clearinghouse then sends
each individual invoice to the appropriate insurance company electronically. This file
usually contains multiple invoices (a “batch”) from several different patient visits, and the
frequency with which you send it out may vary depending upon how busy your practice is.
In most cases, you will be sending out a batch of invoices that have never been sent
before. Once a batch has been sent, the date it was sent may be seen at the top of each
invoice.
If you wish to rebill / resend an invoice which has been sent in the past, you may go to that
invoice and, at the top of the screen, change the option of “Resend this invoice in next
batch” to “Yes.”
For more information on electronic billing, please refer to the Electronic Billing chapter in
this user’s manual.
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Detailed Summary of Products Sold
This report summarizes products sold, and sorts the list by the date of the invoice (date
sold) and the patient name. The report includes invoice date, invoice number, the patient
name, the number (amount) of product sold to the patient, the product that was sold, the
way the units are measured (by bottle, bag, etc.), and the price, tax, and total. Sum totals
of all products sold for this report are shown at the end of the report.
General Summary of Products Sold (Sorted by Product)
This report summarizes products sold by product name, and shows the number of each
product sold and the total amount collected for the product, the amount of taxes (if any)
collected for this product, and the total after taxes. Sum totals for all products sold for
this report are shown at the end of the report
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Patient Balances (Detailed)
The Detailed Patient Balances report is the same as an invoice statement. It groups all
invoices (outstanding and paid in full) by patient (last name first). Unlike the Patient
Balances (Summary) report, which shows only the totals for each invoice, the report
shows line-item detail of each invoice—each procedure and each product on each invoice.
Note that no more than 8 products and 6 procedures plus three extra payments per invoice
will be shown.
You may select some or all patients and/or use this report to print a statement, if you
wish. To print a statement for a given patient, change the default name of the report to
“Statement for (Patient Name)” or to whatever else you want to call it, and then do a find
for that patient alone when the “Find Info for Reports” window comes up.
By default, the message “The Total Outstanding amount is payable immediately. Please
remit to the address above.” shows up at the bottom of each statement. This message may
be modified from the More… tab of the Main Menu’s Preferences button.
Patient Balances (Summary)
The Patient Balances (Summary) report is the same as an invoice statement. It groups all
invoices (outstanding and paid in full) by patient (last name first). For each patient, the
report shows the patient name, and the totals for each invoice. The Patient Balances
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Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
(Detailed), by contrast, shows line-item detail of each invoice—each procedure and each
product on each invoice.
You may select some or all patients and/or use this report to print a statement, if you
wish. To print a statement for a given patient, change the default name of the report to
“Statement for (Patient Name)” or to whatever else you want to call it, and then do a find
for that patient alone when the “Find Info for Reports” window comes up.
By default, the message “The Total Outstanding amount is payable immediately. Please
remit to the address above.” shows up at the bottom of each statement. This message may
be modified from the More… tab of the Main Menu’s Preferences button.
Payment Summary (By Date Paid)
This report summarizes payments by the date each payment transaction was made. It also
includes amount paid, how it was paid (cash, check, etc.), and which procedures (if any)
each payment was applied to. Grand totals are at end of the report.
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To find by a given date range or for a given payment type, enter a date range under the
“Date(s) Paid” field, and/or use the “Type of Payment” field when the “Find Info for
Reports” window comes up before the print preview.
Payment Summary (By Patient Name)
This report summarizes payments, sorting in order of patient name, then date. It also
includes amount paid, how it was paid (cash, check, etc.), and which procedures (if any)
each payment was applied to. Each patient’s transactions are summarized before the next
patient’s record begins. Grand totals show at the end of the report.
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To find only a given patient, enter the patient’s name, use the patient name fields when the
“Find Info for Reports” window comes up before the print preview. To find by a given
date range or for a given payment type, enter a date range under the “Date(s) Paid” field,
and/or use the “Type of Payment” field.
Payment Summary (By Type of Payment)
This report summarizes payments, sorting by type of payment (cash, check, insurance,
etc.), then by date. It also includes amount paid, how it was paid (cash, check, etc.), and
which procedures (if any) each payment was applied to.
To find by a given date range or for a given payment type, enter a date range under the
“Date(s) Paid” field, and/or use the “Type of Payment” field when the “Find Info for
Reports” window comes up before the print preview.
Print Outstanding Invoices
This report will batch print all outstanding invoices onto either Superbills or HCFA 1500
forms, or create a new batch file for those doing electronic billing.
The first screen will ask you whether you would like to print onto Superbills, HCFA
forms, or electronically. Make your selection and click “Continue.”
The next screen asks you to find any specific records you would like. If you wish to print
only statements for specific individuals, you may type one at a time in here by name. If
you wish to print out all patients with outstanding balances, type “>0” in the “Total Due”
field. Click the “Find” button when ready.
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When you get the “Print” screen, be sure that it does not say “Current Record” at the top,
but rather “Records being browsed,” and that Print Range is set to “All.”
Procedure Summary (By Date)
This report lists each procedure billed (in date order), including invoice number, code
(CPT), procedure description, price, tax, and total, with sum totals of all procedures at the
end of the report. If you wish to find for only one procedure, when the Find Info for
Reports window comes up (before the print preview), in the “Transaction/Procedure
Type” field, select the procedure you would like to find.
You may wish to only find procedures done within a given date range. To do this, when
the Find Info for Reports window comes up (before the print preview), in the “Transaction
Date(s)” field, enter your date range and click the “Find” button. (A date range is entered
as two dates with “…” between them. For example, to find all transaction for the year
2001 only, you would enter “01/01/2001…12/31/2001” [without the quotes] and click the
“Find” button.)
Procedure Summary (By Patient)
This report summarizes procedures billed in order of patient names, then by date, with
subtotals for each patient, and a grand total at the end of the report. If you wish to find
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for only one procedure, when the Find Info for Reports window comes up (before the
print preview), in the “Transaction/Procedure Type” field, select the procedure you would
like to find.
You may also wish to only find procedures done within a given date range. To do this,
follow the directions given under the Procedure Summary (By Date).
Procedure Summary (By Type)
This report lists and summarizes (totals) each procedure, with the same fields as the
Procedure Summary (By Date) report. But this report is sorted by type of procedure
(acupuncture, electroacupuncture, etc.), with subtotals for each, and a grand summary
total at the end of the report. If you wish to find for only one procedure, when the Find
Info for Reports window comes up (before the print preview), in the “Transaction/
Procedure Type” field, select the procedure you would like to find.
You may also wish to only find procedures done within a given date range. To do this,
follow the directions given under the Procedure Summary (By Date).
Summary Aging (By Patient)
The Summary Aging (By Patient) Report sorts outstanding balances alphabetically by
patient, summarizing the total amount each patient with an outstanding balance owes.
These total balances are grouped into columns representing outstanding balances of 120+
days, 90-120 days, 60-90 days, 30-60 days, and 0-30 days from the date the report is run.
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Important! When the option to print comes up, be sure that the selection at the top of the
print screen is “Records Being Browsed,” and that you have selected “All” pages.
Otherwise, you will only get one line of text.
Summary Aging (By Period)
The Summary Aging (By Period) report shows all outstanding invoices, and groups them
by aging categories of 120+ days, 90-120 days, 60-90 days, 30-60 days, and 0-30 days
from the date the report is run. Within each date category, records are sorted by invoice
date and patient name.
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Important! When the option to print comes up, be sure that the selection at the top of the
print screen is “Records Being Browsed,” and that you have selected “All” pages.
Otherwise, you will only get one line of text.
Summary by Date Invoice Printed
This report summarizes each invoice, sorting it by the date it was last printed. The report
includes invoice number, invoice date, provider, patient name, invoices totals, adjustments,
payments, and balance due (if any), as well as a grand total at the end of the report. It is
highly recommended that you enter a date range in the “Last Date(s) Printed” field when
the “Find Info for Reports” windows comes up. Otherwise, your report will start with all
of the invoices that have yet to be printed (because there is no “Date Printed” associated
with the invoice).
Summary Daily Report
This report shows a summary of invoices for a given billing date, including procedures,
products, payments, adjustments, and total amounts outstanding. This report shows
subtotals for each provider (AcuBaseTM allows a maximum of three providers using the
database), and also has a grand total for all three providers at the end of the report.
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To run this report properly for a given date, you should find for the date you wish to
report on by entering it in the “Invoice Date(s)” field in the Find Info for Reports window
(which comes up before the print preview). Failure to do this will give you a very
inaccurate “daily” report which summarizes multiple dates!
Summary of Ebilling Batches (By Date Batch Created)
This report shows a summary of each batch of electronic billing which has been created.
Use this report to see which invoices have been batched together to be sent electronically,
and when those batches were created. The report is sorted by the date the batch of
invoices was created, and then by the name of the patient, and the invoice number. It also
includes the total amount of the invoice, the amount paid, adjusted, and total outstanding.
Transaction Report
This big chunky report shows a detailed accounting of each invoice, including procedures
and products sold, as well as payments and adjustments, as it relates to each provider.
Note that no more than 8 products and 6 procedures plus three extra payments per invoice
will be shown. Subtotals by provider, and grand totals for all are at the end of the report.
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Transaction Summary By Month
The Transaction Summary By Month report groups all invoices (outstanding and paid in
full) by the months of the year. The report is sorted by month and year. Within each
month, the date of each invoice is given, followed by the patient related to the invoice, and
invoice totals. Totals for each month follow, and totals for all months show at the bottom
of the report.
Some users have reported issues with months and their years printing in incorrect order.
We have found this to be an issue with users who have data in the database that dates back
to, or before, the year 2000. If this happens to you, simply run this report for one year at
a time rather than for multiple years. To do this, when the Find Info for Reports window
comes up (before the print preview), in the “Invoice Date(s)” field, enter your date range
and click the “Find” button. (A date range is entered as two dates with “…” between
them. For example, to find all transaction for the year 2001 only, you would enter “01/01/
2001…12/31/2001” [without the quotes] and click the “Find” button.)
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Important! When the option to print comes up, be sure that the selection at the top of the
print screen is “Records Being Browsed,” and that you have selected “All” pages.
Otherwise, you will only get one line of text.
General Reports, Letters, Marketing
The General Reports consist of a patient information report, a personalized patient phone
book, Avery labels, a birthday letter, a new patient letter, and envelopes related to the
patients in your Patient Information database. To create any one of these reports, you
must first find and sort the records that you want in your report. Once you have found
and sorted the records you would like to include, you will be able to preview and/or print
that report.
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Patient Information Report
This report summarizes each patient’s general information, including name, address,
insurance information, diagnoses, etc. It does NOT print out SOAP notes for each
patient. This may be done from each individual patient’s Activities tab. To find a given
patient, enter the patient name in the “Find Info for Reports” screen that comes up before
the print preview.
Patients Phone Book
This report prints a two-column phone book of all patients, their address, and phone/
contact information.
Avery 5160 and 5162 Labels
This report prints patient names and addresses onto standard Avery brand 5160 and 5162
labels.
#10 Envelopes
This button prints one or several patient names and addresses onto #10-sized envelopes.
Note that each printer is different, so the way that you are required to load envelopes into
your printer may vary. To find a given patient, enter the patient name in the “Find Info for
Reports” screen that comes up before the print preview.
New Patient Letters
The New Patient Letter prints a one-page new patient welcome letter. This letter’s
contents may be customized from the Main Menu’s Preferences button, under the More…,
Letters tab. To find a given patient, enter the patient name in the “Find Info for Reports”
screen that comes up before the print preview.
When you run a this report for a given patient, AcuBaseTM remembers that the letter has
been printed for that patient, and shows a message to that effect on the Patient Information screen for each patient who has had a letter printed (just under the “Referred By”
field).
Referral Thank You Letters
The Referral Thank You Letter prints a one-page letter to thank your referral source for
the referral of a given patient. This letter’s contents may be customized from the Main
Menu’s Preferences button, under the More…, Letters tab. To find a given patient, enter
the patient name in the “Find Info for Reports” screen that comes up before the print
preview.
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
4-41
When you run a this report for a given patient, AcuBaseTM remembers that the letter has
been printed for that patient, and shows a message to that effect on the Patient Information screen for each patient who has had a letter printed (just under the “Referred By”
field).
Birthday Letter
The Birthday Letter prints a one-page letter to acknowledge a patient’s birthday. This
letter’s contents may be customized from the Main Menu’s Preferences button, under the
More…, Letters tab. To find all patients with a birthday in a given month, click on the
“Month of Birth” field in the “Find Info for Reports” screen that comes up before the print
preview. To find a given patient, enter the patient name on this screen.
Custom Letters 1 and 2
The custom letter reports print a one-page letter that you may customize to your liking.
The letter title and contents may be customized from the Main Menu’s Preferences button,
under the More…, Letters tab. Use the “Find Info for Reports” screen that comes up
before the print preview to determine who will get the letter.
View as List
The View as List button allows you to view all or some of the patients found in the Patient
Information & Billing database. You may also view the provider name, patient phone
number, and total balance due from this screen. You may sort this list by patient name,
provider, payment type, or total balance due by simply clicking on the sort button found
next to each of these fields’ names. To get more details on a given patient’s record, click
on “View As Form” at the top of the screen, or click on the button to the left of each
patient’s name.
Sorting Records
This is the sort button. While the Patient Information & Billing database defaults to sort
by the last name and then first name of each patient, the user may also choose to sort and
view the patients by patient phone number or total balance due (see “View As List,”
above). If you wish to sort by other fields that do not have the sort button next to their
respective field name, you may go to the Mode pull-down menu and select “Sort…”
4-42
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
Creating New Records
To add a new patient to the Patient Information & Billing database, simply click on the
“New Patient” button from either Form View or View as List mode. You will be presented with a blank patient information screen in Form View.
Finding Records
To perform a “find,” click on the “Find Record” button. A screen will appear that shows
the fields that you can find by. Simply enter the information (or any part of it) into the
appropriate fields, and click on the “Find” button. If only one record was found, that one
record will be shown in Form View. If more than one record is found, you will be taken
directly to View as List to see a list of the found records. To find all records in the Patient
Information & Billing database, click on the “All Records” button from the Find screen.
Like any other find request, the Find feature in the Patient Information & Billing database
follows the rules of a find given in Chapter 2, under “Finding Records.” Refer to that
section for more detailed information on finding records.
Find All
Once you have done a find for a set of records, only those records are available to view
from that point forward. To bring all contacts in the Patient Information & Billing
database back into the “found set,” click on the “Find All” button.
Deleting Records
Patient records may only be deleted using the Delete Record button at the top of the
Patient Information screen. Deleting a patient here deletes all information related to that
patient: addresses, phone numbers, activities, and invoices.
Activities may be deleted individually by selecting a given activity under the Intakes and
Activities tab, and clicking on the Delete button at the top of the screen.
Invoices (HCFAs or superbills) may be deleted individually by clicking on the Delete
button at the top of the individual invoice’s screen.
BE ADVISED! When you delete a record, you are permanently discarding the data you
entered in all the fields in that record! THERE IS NO WAY TO BRING BACK DELETED RECORDS UNLESS YOU HAVE MADE A BACKUP OF THE FILE.
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
4-43
Printing
Print buttons are available at the top of appropriate screens (i.e., when creating new
activities, reports, or viewing invoices). Existing activities may be printed by clicking on
the printer button at the far right side of each line-item activity under a given patient’s
“Intakes and Activities” tab. Each invoice may be printed by clicking on the Print
Superbill or Print HCFA button at the top of an invoice. To print all outstanding invoices
for a given patient (or all patients), use the “Print Outstanding Invoices” report on the
Reports screen.
To print all invoices for a given patient, go to that patient’s Billing tab, select a preexisting invoice or create a new one, and then click on the “View as List” button at the top
of the screen. From View as List mode, you may print all of the patient’s invoices on
either HCFA 1500 forms or superbills by clicking on the appropriate button at the top of
the View As List screen. These buttons are also available at the top of the Payment Entry
screen. When the option to print comes up, be sure that the selection at the top of the
print screen is “Records Being Browsed,” and that you have selected “All” pages.
Otherwise, you will only get one line of text or one invoice.
To Change The Look Of Invoices Or Activities
If you own FileMaker Pro 5.5 or higher for Mac or PC, and know the program well, you
may change the look of your faxes, intakes, call records, patient progress reports, and/or
patient invoices/superbills. To do this,
1.
Open FileMaker Pro.
2.
From within FileMaker Pro, go to File, Open.
3? To change the look of activities such as faxes, intakes, call records, or patient
progress reports, open the Activities database from within the AcuBaseTM folder on
your hard drive and go to each respective activity’s print layout. To change the look
of invoices/superbills, open the Billing database and go to the “Detailed Intake Print”
layout.
NOTE: Trigram Software support will NOT assist you in the event that you attempt to
change default layouts and/or lose data after modifying the Activities or Billing databases.
If you decide to modify these files, it is assumed that you know and understand the
intricacies of FileMaker Pro, and you do so at your own risk!
4-44
Using The Patient Information & Billing Database
Getting Help
To get help from any screen, simply click on the “Help” button for that screen.
Getting Out of the Patient Information & Billing Database
To get out of the Patient Information & Billing database, simply click on the Main Menu
button or go to the File menu and select “Exit” or “Quit” to exit out of AcuBaseTM
completely.
Chapter 5: Electronic Billing with AcuBaseTM
Electronic Billing Overview
The electronic billing capabilities of AcuBaseTM represent some of the many ways that the
program can grow along with your practice. Once the initial set-up is completed, you will
soon find your practice realizing the great benefits of billing electronically. These benefits
include:
•
Greatly reduced invoice processing time on your end
•
Faster payment from insurance companies
•
Monetary savings with the elimination of envelopes, paper, and stamps
•
Saving of personnel costs with the elimination of the need to print, stamp, and send
out claims
•
Compliance with new Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
regulations
5-2
Electronic Billing with AcuBaseTM
About Electronic Billing (E-billing)
Electronic billing is fast becoming the standard way of submitting medical claims. In fact,
by 2003, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) will
require that all medical insurance entities be capable of receiving and processing electronic
claims.
The current, standard way of submitting claims is to print each invoice onto a HCFA 1500
form or superbill and submit each through the mail or by fax to the appropriate insurance
company associated with each patient. With electronic billing, you prepare claims within
AcuBaseTM the same way you always do as if you are planning to send them through
regular mail (“snail mail”). The difference comes when it is time to submit the claims.
Instead of printing up each claim, putting it into an envelope, and sending it off by snail
mail, you leave the invoice (claim) unprinted. You then instruct AcuBaseTM to create a
“batch” file which has all of the claims in it. This is also likened to “printing to a file—”
creating a file with all of the current invoices in them (instead of printing them to paper).
It is called a “batch” file because it usually contains more than one invoice for more than
one patient.
Next, this batch file is sent through the Internet to a billing clearinghouse, where it is
automatically opened, and the data for each invoice is sent electronically to each individual
insurance company. The billing clearinghouse is an outside company which does all of the
processing for you, and usually bills at a monthly rate depending upon the size and nature
of your practice. (A multiple-provider office or billing service will obviously require more
processing than a part-time, single provider practice.)
Some of the great advantages of using electronic billing include getting paid a lot faster;
saving the time, money, and equipment required to print and mail out claims; and instant
reporting. The billing clearinghouse will usually give you a report related to the batch you
have sent them within 24 hours detailing if certain data was missing from certain claims, if
the processing went through without errors, etc. All that you need are a connection to the
Internet, a billing clearinghouse, and AcuBase. After successful electronic claim submission, you will often get paid by the insurance company up to 90% faster than through
paper claims that you snail mailed.
Electronic Billing with AcuBaseTM
5-3
Setting Up and Using Electronic Billing In AcuBaseTM
Using electronic billing in AcuBaseTM involves a few simple steps:
1.
Setting up a relationship with a billing clearinghouse;
2.
Setting the Preferences in AcuBaseTM for E-billing; and
3.
Using AcuBaseTM and the Internet to submit claims to the billing clearinghouse.
Let’s go through these steps one at a time:
1.
Setting Up A Relationship With A Billing Clearinghouse
As stated above, instead of printing out your invoices/claims, you will submit them in a file
through the Internet to a billing clearinghouse. The clearinghouse will then open this file
and submit each invoice individually, electronically, to each insurance company. The
clearinghouse will usually charge you on a monthly basis for the use of their services.
AcuBase’s billing system creates a batch file designed to be submitted to a billing clearinghouse called Abrea Technologies, Inc. (Abrea). In order to use the electronic billing
capabilities of AcuBaseTM, you will need to set up a relationship with Abrea as follows…
A. You will first need to set up the appropriate contract with Abrea depending upon
the size of your practice. Your AcuBaseTM CD contains a folder / directory
called “Ebilling.” Within that folder are three Microsoft Word documents:
4995.doc, 6995.doc, and 125.doc. If you are billing as a single provider, open
the 4995.doc document. If you are billing for a group of up to three providers,
open the 6995.doc document. If you plan to bill for labs and ambulance fees as
well, open the 125.doc document. Each document already has the Trigram
Software logo and contact information on the top to alert Abrea that you are
using AcuBaseTM as your billing software.
B. Read, fill out, and sign the appropriate contract, and fax it to the Abrea Contracts
Department at (973) 286-3776. At the time of this writing, AcuBaseTM customers are charged a set-up fee of $49.99. The fees per month for unlimited claims
are: $49.95 for single provider clinics; $69.95 for multiple providers (AcuBaseTM
allows up to 3 providers); and $125 if you also plan to bill for labs and ambulance
fees. For further details, you will need to contact Abrea directly.
C. An Abrea representative should contact you within 2 business days after receipt
of your contract to review their costs and procedures with you and set up an
online account name and password which allows you to submit electronic claims.
5-4
Electronic Billing with AcuBaseTM
Note that, at the time of this writing, some insurance companies do not accept
bills electronically. Trigram Software is not responsible in any way for any
insurance company’s e-billing policy. It is your responsibility to know when a
company does not accept electronically-submitted claims.
Abrea also gives you the option of signing up for a paper claims service. Any
claim that is denied because the insurance company does not accept electronic
claims will automatically be printed on paper and mailed directly from Abrea.
For more information on this or any other Abrea service, contact Abrea Customer Service at (973) 353-6209 Monday through Friday Eastern Standard (east
coast) time. You may also check their website at http://www.abreaedi.com, email
them at [email protected], or write to them at:
Abrea Technologies, Inc.
P.O. Box 1358
Newark, NJ 07101
2
Setting The Preferences In AcuBase For E-billing
Once you have established a relationship with Abrea and have a user name and
password, you will need to let AcuBaseTM know that you would like to use its
electronic billing features. To do this, simply go to the Preferences button from the
AcuBaseTM Main Menu, choose the “More…” tab, and then the “E-billing Setup” tab.
Set the “Electronic Billing is Currently Set To:” field to “On.” That’s it!
Once E-billing is set to “On,” the electronic billing section at the top of each invoice
on the HCFA Entry screen will also be active each time you create a new HCFA
invoice (see “Creating A New HCFA Form Entry” in the Patient Information and
Billing chapter of this user’s manual).
3
Using AcuBase and the Internet to Submit Claims to the Billing Clearinghouse
Now that you have a relationship with a clearinghouse, a name and password for
submitting claims through their secure website, and have turned on the E-billing
features in AcuBaseTM, you are ready to do electronic billing. Doing E-billing is a
matter of A-B-C:
A. Do your billing the way you always do, by creating a new HCFA invoice for
each patient per the HCFA entry instructions in the “Using the Patient Information and Billing Database” chapter of the AcuBaseTM user’s manual.
Electronic Billing with AcuBaseTM
5-5
Now that E-billing has been activated within the program, each time you create a
new invoice, the “Send or resend this invoice in next batch?” field at the top of
the HCFA Entry Screen is automatically set to “Yes.”
When you have finished entering each invoice, you do not need to print it unless
you wish to do so for your reference, as the claim will be submitted electronically.
B. Create a batch file to send all of the current, unbilled claims to the clearinghouse.
Assuming you are doing billing for several different patients and perhaps several
different patient visits, you would normally wait until you have many claims to
submit. (How many claims you “save up” to bill is up to you, and may depend
upon the volume of your clinic. If you see at least 10 people per day, we
recommend submitting at the end of each day. If you have a lower volume
business, you may wish to submit at the end of each week.)
Once you have prepared your billing to be submitted, rather than printing the
invoices out, you will prepare an E-billing “batch” or “batch file” by going to the
Reports button from the Main Menu or within the Patient Information database,
and choosing the “Create Electronic Billing Batch” report. (You may also go to
the Commands menu from within Patient Information to select this report, or use
Cntrl+0 [Command+0 on the Macintosh] from within the Patient Information
database.) The report will automatically find all of the invoices that have not yet
been submitted. (All of the invoices for which the “Send or resend this invoice in
next batch?” field at the top of the HCFA Entry Screen are set to “Yes.” If you
wish to include any invoices that were previously sent in order to resubmit them
for any reason, simply go to that invoice, and set this field to “Yes.”)
If you have not set the AcuBaseTM Preferences to do E-billing (see #2, above), or
you have no current invoices ready to send (per the above-mentioned “Send or
resend this invoice in next batch?” field), AcuBaseTM will give you an error
message to that effect.
5-6
Electronic Billing with AcuBaseTM
As part of the “Create Electronic Billing Batch” report, a window will appear
asking you to name the new batch file. This file will contain all of the current
bills to be sent to the insurance companies. We recommend that you give this file
a consistent name, such
as “ebilling.” Also be
sure that “Save as type”
at the bottom of this
window is set to
“Comma-Separated
Text Files.” Save the
file to a place you can
remember on your
computer. By default,
it will be saved into
your AcuBaseTM folder
(on a PC, this is
C:\Program
Files\Trigram
Software\AcuBase).
Each time you create a
new batch file for future
E-billing, you may wish
to keep the file name the same, replacing the old file so that you know you are
always sending the correct, most up-to-date file.
Once you have created a batch file, each invoice that was sent as part of the file
will have its “Date Batch Last Sent” field updated with the date you created the
batch. This field can be seen at the top of the screen in the electronic billing
section of the HCFA Entry Screen. AcuBaseTM will also update the “Date
Printed” field for each invoice when a claim has been sent as part of a batch.
In the following step, you will send your batch file to the billing clearinghouse.
Electronic Billing with AcuBaseTM
5-7
C. Send the new batch file in for electronic processing. Now that you have created
your batch file and remember where you saved it on your computer, you should
do the following:
(1) Close or minimize AcuBaseTM.
(2) Get onto the Internet, preferably using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. (AOL
users, you can open your AOL account, and then find and open Internet
Explorer with AOL open at the same time. Internet Explorer is pre-installed
on all Windows-based machines.)
(3) Go to Abrea’s website, http://www.abreaedi.com, and select the “Members”
button on the left side of the screen.
(4) Enter the user name and password supplied by Abrea.
(5) Click on “Download Files” or “Send Claims”
(6) Use the “Browse” button to find and select the batch file you created, in
Step B, above, and then click on the “Upload” button.
That’s it!
Note that the above were the appropriate screens on Abrea’s website at the
time of this writing, but Trigram Software has no control over Abrea’s
website, or their file submission policies or practices.
VERY VERY Important E-Billing Note!
The file AcuBaseTM sends to the billing clearinghouse is essentially a text file with each
field of the HCFA 1500 form on it, separated by a comma. When the clearinghouse gets
the file, they import it into their system, and each comma tells their system where one field
(say, patient address) ends, and the next (say, patient city) begins. In this case, each
comma is considered a “field delimiter” in geek speak. This also means that you should
not (in fact, CAN NOT) use commas anywhere in your data. No commas in insurance
company addresses. No commas in patient addresses. Commas placed anywhere in your
billing-related data may cause any comma-anointed claims to fail when sent for electronic
processing. This includes your name and clinic information as entered into the AcuBaseTM
preferences (“Jason Luban, MD” should instead be “Jason Luban MD”). Note that
diagnosis and procedure descriptions are not sent as part of the batch file, so you need not
worry about them.
5-8
Electronic Billing with AcuBaseTM
Reporting and Status of Electronic Claims
You may access status and/or error reports related to batch files you have sent in to Abrea
by going to their website, logging in (see step #3C above), and selecting the “Reports”
link on the left side of the screen. Any issues with Abrea’s reporting or claims submission
processes should be addressed to them directly. Contact Abrea Customer Service at (973)
353-6209 Monday through Friday Eastern Standard (east coast) time. You may also
check their website at http://www.abreaedi.com, email them at
[email protected], or write to them at:
Abrea Technologies, Inc.
P.O. Box 1358
Newark, NJ 07101
Reports related to the invoices themselves may be run like any other billing report by
clicking on the Reports button from within the Patient Information and Billing database.
You may also go to the Reports button from the Main Menu and select the Billing tab to
access these reports. See the Reports section of the Patient Information & Billing Database chapter in this user’s manual.
Important note for E-billing users: In HCFA box number 33, only the provider name, not
the company, will be processed electronically, so be sure you have entered a provider
name in the AcuBaseTM Preferences.
Chapter 6: The Insurance Company & Referral Databases
Insurance Company and Referral Sources Databases Overview
The Insurance Companies and Referral Sources databases are a place for you to enter
commonly-accessed insurance company and referral source information. These databases
allow you to:
•
Enter an unlimited number of insurance companies or referrers.
•
Keep this information current in one place, and have it auto-entered into the appropriate places in the Patient Information and Billing database.
•
View lists of which patients were referrer by which referral sources, as well as which
patients have a given insurance company.
•
Print insurance company or referrer mailing labels, envelopes, or phone books.
6-2
The Insurance Company & Referral Sources Databases
Using the Insurance Company and Referral Sources Databases
To open the Insurance Companies or Referral Sources databases, simply click on the
appropriate button from the Main Menu. Upon opening either database, you are presented with all of the records/data related to that subject in list format. To see more
details about a given insurance company or referral source, you may easily switch to Form
View by pressing a button located next to the name, or clicking on the “View As Form”
button at the top of the screen.
View as List Mode
Upon click on the Insurance Company or Referral Sources databases from the Main
Menu, you are taken directly to View As List mode, with your insurance companies or
referral sources sorted and presented in List format. If you want more details on a given
record or to change anything about that record, simply click on the box/button to the left
of that record to view the record as a “form” (this does the same as the “View as Form”
button at the top of the screen).
View as Form
View as Form, or “Form View,” shows individual records and their details. As stated
above, you may see details on any record by clicking on the “View as Form” button or
clicking on the box/button to the left of that record to view the record as a “form.”
Form View is where you want to be to enter new information about any given insurance
company or referral source, as well as to perform “finds.” It is also the screen you will
be taken to when you choose to enter a new record (by clicking on the “New Record”
button at the top of any screen).
The Insurance Company & Referral Sources Databases
6-3
Adding New Records and Modifying Existing Records
To enter a new record into any database, click on the “New Record” button. AcuBaseTM
will then give you a blank record into which you may enter whatever you please.
To enter or modify data, simply click in a field and/or tab between fields. If you need to
use more room than the field appears to hold, go ahead. Each field will only show a finite
amount of data on the screen, but will actually accommodate an almost unlimited amount
of information. Note that, while field size is virtually unlimited, fields with an abundance
of information will only show a small amount of that information when printed!
Finding Records
To perform a “find,” simply click on the “Find Record” button. A blank screen will appear
from which you may enter the information you wish to find into the appropriate fields.
Simply enter the information (or any part of it) into the appropriate fields, and click on the
“Find” button or hit the Enter or Return key on your keyboard. To see how many records
were found, click on the “View as List” button near the top of the screen.
Like any other find request, the Find feature in the every part of the AcuBaseTM database
follows the rules of a find given in Chapter 2, under “Finding Records.” Refer to that
section for more detailed information on finding records.
Find All
Once you have done a find for a set of records, only those records are available to view
from that point forward. To bring all records back into the “found set,” click on the “Find
All” button, or choose “Find All” from the Select menu.
Deleting Records
To delete items from any database, simply click on the “Delete Record” button. You will
be given the option of canceling the delete process before it is finished. Once you confirm
the deletion, you will not be able to recover that record! AcuBaseTM automatically saves
changes as they are made, so deletions are permanent. Always keep backups of all of your
data!
6-4
The Insurance Company & Referral Sources Databases
Reports
To create a report, you must first find and sort the records that you want in your report (see “Finding
Records” above). Once you have found and sorted the records you would like to include, click on the
“Reports” button at the top of the screen. This will take you to the Reports window, where you may
choose one of four reports.
Avery 5160 and 5162 Labels
This report prints insurance company or referral source names and addresses onto standard Avery-brand
5160 and 5162 labels.
#10 Envelopes
This button prints one or several insurance company or referrer names and addresses onto #10-sized
envelopes. Note that each printer is different, so the way that you are required to load envelopes into
your printer may vary.
Phone Book
This report prints a phone book of all insurance companies or referral sources, as well as their contact
information.
Getting Out of the Insurance Company or Referral Sources Databases
To get out of any database, simply click on the Main Menu button to go to the AcuBaseTM Main Menu.
If you wish to quit out of AcuBaseTM completely, go to the File menu and select “Exit” or “Quit” from
within any part of the program.
Chapter 7: Using The Inventory Database
Inventory Database Overview
Who could say they have a comprehensive office management solution without including
an inventory tracking system? If we sell products of any kind, we need to know how much
of each product we have on hand, how much we have sold, taxed, etc. In a busy practice
and without any guidance, keeping track of such inventory can be unmanageable. But with
AcuBaseTM, inventory tracking is not only manageable, it’s easy!
The AcuBaseTM Inventory database includes:
•
The ability to keep track of an unlimited number of items.
•
Full integration with the rest of AcuBaseTM. Automatic adjustments of available
inventory as items are sold to patients. All vendor information is related to each item
in inventory.
•
The option to set prices and even taxes on an item-by-item basis.
•
The ability to create categories (such as “Needles,” “Supplements,” or whatever other
category you may wish to use to classify the kinds of items you wish to track).
•
An intelligent “feeler” that tells you the last time you inventoried or stocked a given
item.
•
Customizable fields that allow you to determine the amount of an item to keep on
hand, what measurements to use (pounds, boxes, etc.), when to reorder a given item ,
and the number of each item currently open to buy (based on amount in stock).
•
Reports that allow you to sort and print all of your inventory (or only certain categories of it) by category, by supplier, or otherwise.
•
Blank inventory sheets that lists all items by category to make taking a manual
inventory at your office(s) quick and easy.
•
Standard Avery labels for all items that include the amount to keep in stock and the
supplier for each item.
•
Context-sensitive help at every turn.
7-2
Using The Inventory Database
Using the Inventory Database
Upon opening the “Inventory” database from the Main Menu, you are taken directly to the
“List View” of the Inventory database. At this point, all of the inventoried items in the
database are presented in order of their Product Names. You may choose to view (sort)
inventory items by Category (supplements, needles, etc.), Name, Vendor, or by the items
that you most need to buy (Open To Buy) by clicking on the icon next to each of these
categories. If you want more details on a given item in the database or to change anything
about that record, simply click on the button to the left of it to view the record as a “form”
(this does the same as the “View as Form” button at the top of the screen). To go from
one record to the next in Form View, simply click on the arrow buttons to go forward or
backward. Context-sensitive help is available from every screen. Just look for the “?”
button at the top and/or bottom of the screen.
The Form View screen may be broken down as follows:
Using The Inventory Database
7-3
Product ID: Every record requires a unique Product ID, or product identification number.
The Product ID may be the number assigned to it by the product’s vendor, or any other
alphanumeric system you may wish to use. This field helps AcuBaseTM index each record,
which is important when it comes time to bill for products. If you fail to enter anything in
this field, AcuBaseTM will generate an error message.
Product Name: This is a short name for the item you are inventorying. Examples of
Product Names might be “Carbo 1.5 inch needles” or “St. John’s Wort 90 Tabs.”
On Superbill As—>: This field shows the name of the item as it will appear on a patient’s
invoice. This field will default to showing the same name as the Product Name field. This
field must be unique from other entries in the database, so, if you have multiple database
entries for a given product (say, one entry of a supplement with 120 tablets, and another
of the same supplement with 300 tablets), you should name each something unique, such
as “Patent Formula 300 tabs” and/or “Patent Formula 120 tabs.” This way, you can
differentiate the two entries when filling out the patient’s invoice.
Category: This is a one- or two-word description of the class of the item you are inventorying. Examples included with AcuBaseTM are needles, herbs, formulas, and miscellaneous. You can edit these items or add your own by going to “Edit…” (an option when
you click on the Category field).
Purchased by the…: This field reflects the units that the item is bought by. For instance,
when you buy 1.5 inch needles, you would probably buy them by the box, so you would
put “box(es)” in this field. For herbs, you may buy them by the ounce(s) or pound(s), so
you would select that. Like the Category field, you may modify and/or add to these
values by selecting “Edit…” (an option when you click on the Purchased by the… field).
Description: Enter a full description of the item (as long as you would like) in this field,
and/or any significant details related to it.
Max. Amount to Keep on Hand: This is where you enter the amount of this item that you
would ultimately like to keep in stock when you have all that you need. In other words,
if you like to keep 5 boxes of needles in stock, but no more, then you’d want to enter “5”
into this field. AcuBaseTM uses this field when calculating the amount of an item that is
open to buy by subtracting the amount you have on hand from the max. amount to keep
on hand. For each new record that is created, AcuBaseTM auto-sets this field to 5.
Amount Stocked…: This is where you enter the total amount of the item you have
stocked. Add to this number each time you restock a given item.
Amount Sold: This field tells you how many units of this item you may have sold since
last stocking it. This field connects to your patient invoices to determine the total amount
of a given item you have sold.
7-4
Using The Inventory Database
Amount On Hand: This is how much you have in stock based on how much you have
stocked minus how much you have sold of a given item.
Open to Buy: This field subtracts the maximum amount of an item you want to keep on
hand from the amount actually stocked and sold to determine if and how much of an item
is open to buy.
Date Modified: This field automatically updates itself each time you update information
related to a given inventory item.
Tax On This Item: When you add a new record to the Inventory database, this field autofills with the tax rate you entered for Products in the AcuBaseTM Preferences (from Main
Menu). You can reset thus amount here on a per-item basis, and it reflects as tax added to
this item’s retail price when you sell to a patient.
Supplier & Cost: These fields relate to the supplier of this item. Start by clicking on the
ID field. This will give you a pop-up list of all vendors in the Vendor Information database. If the supplier of this item is already in that list, select their name, and their information will automatically appear in the fields below. If they are not in the list, you will need
to add them into the Vendor Information database first (see instructions on the Vendor
Information database). The ID numbers are supplied by AcuBaseTM and may not be
modified. While most fields that auto-fill may only be modified from within the Vendor
Information database, you may add or edit information in the Comments, Phone/E-mail,
and Web Address fields.
Enter the cost to you when you buy this item (Cost) and the amount that you charge for
this item (Retail) into the appropriate fields. These fields’ currencies (whether in dollars,
British pounds sterling, French francs, etc.) may be modified through the “Money /
Billing” tab under “Preferences” from the AcuBaseTM Main Menu. While entering the cost
of the item is optional, you must enter a retail price in order to bill patients for a given
item.
Use the Comments field to enter any general information about this supplier. Information
entered here will be entered into the “General Comments” field for this supplier in the
Contacts database, as well.
Using The Inventory Database
7-5
Adding New Items to the Inventory Database
To add a new item to the Inventory database, simply click on the “New Record” button.
You will be given a new, blank record into which you may enter all of the information
related to the item. To enter data, simply click in a field and/or tab between fields. If you
need to use more room than the field appears to hold, go ahead. Each field will only show
a finite amount of data on the screen, but will actually accommodate an almost unlimited
amount of information. You may enter an unlimited number of telephone numbers and email addresses for your supplier as well. Each time you add one, a new, blank line will
appear below it, allowing you to add another.
Deleting Items in the Inventory Database
To delete items in the Inventory database, from Form View, simply click on the “Delete
Record” button. You will be given the option of canceling the delete process before it is
finished. Once you confirm the deletion, you will not be able to recover that record.
AcuBaseTM automatically saves changes as they are made, so deletions are permanent.
Always keep backups of all of your data!
Finding Records
To perform a “find,” simply click on the “Find Record” button from any given layout. A
blank screen will appear that shows the fields that you can find by. Simply enter the
information (or any part of it) into the appropriate fields that you would like to find, and
click on the “Continue” button on the left side of the screen. If only one record was
found, that one record will be shown in Form View. If more than one record is found, you
will be taken directly to View as List to see a list of the found records.
Like any other find request, the Find feature in the Inventory database follows the rules of
a find given in Chapter 2, under “Finding Records.” Refer to that section for more
detailed information on finding records.
Find All
Once you have done a find for a set of records, only those records are available to view
from that point forward. To bring all items in the Inventory database back into the “found
set,” click on the “Find All” button (available from any layout).
7-6
Using The Inventory Database
Using the “Forward Record” and “Back Record” Buttons
From within Form View screen, you will see a Forward Record and Back Record button
at the top-right side of the screen. If you have more than one item in inventory, clicking
on these buttons should step you through each item alphabetically. If these buttons appear
not to do anything, try clicking on the “Find All” button at the top of the screen first, and
then try the Forward or Back buttons again.
Sorting Records
This is the sort button. While the Inventory database defaults to sort by the Product
Name of each item, the user may also choose to sort and view items by Category, Vendor,
or by the items that you most need to buy (Open To Buy) by clicking on the icon next to
each of these categories. If you wish to sort by other fields that do not have the sort
button next to their respective field name, you may go to the Mode pull-down menu and
select “Sort…”
Reports
To print and/or view reports from the Inventory database, click on the Reports button.
This takes you to a screen where you are given the option of ten different reports. When
you click on any of the report button options, the report will either preview, and then
print; print only; or preview only. It depends on how you set the Printing Options field in
the “Miscellaneous” tab under “Preferences” from the AcuBase Main Menu.
Using The Inventory Database
7-7
Product Inventory By Item Name
This report produces a list of items by product name, also showing the supplier, amount in
stock, amount open to buy, cost, and resale price.
Product Inventory By Category
This report gives a summary of all of the items in the database sorted by category, and
then by Product name. It details the maximum amount of that item that you would like to
keep on hand, the amount currently in stock (according to the last time you took inventory), the amount in stock, the value of your current stock, and the amount currently open
to buy.
7-8
Using The Inventory Database
Product Inventory By ID Number
This report gives a summary of all of the items in the database sorted by Product ID
number. It also shows the product name, the company / vendor selling the product, the
cost, resale price, and price with tax..
Product Inventory By Supplier
This report gives a summary of products in inventory, sorting them first by the supplier /
vendor of the product, then by category, and then by the product name. The maximum
amount of each item to keep on hand is also shown, along with the amount of the item
currently in stock, the cost to you for each item bought, the total value of all of the
quantity you currently have in inventory, and the number that are currently open to buy for
each record. At the end of each supplier’s list of products is the total number of items
from that supplier that you have in stock, and the total value of that supplier’s items. A
grand total appears at the end of the report.
Using The Inventory Database
7-9
Blank Inventory Entry Sheets
This report is used each time you are ready to take inventory. It prints out all of the items
in the Inventory database and sorts them by Category and then Product ID. It tells you
the maximum amount you would like to keep on hand, and leaves open a blank box for
you to enter the amount of each item in stock, and the amount to buy. Once this report is
printed, you will want to fill in the “Amount in Stock” and “Amount to Buy” fields by
hand as you take inventory, and then enter the appropriate values back into the Inventory
database when you are done.
Inventory Price List By Supplier
This report alphabetizes each supplier, then their product types, then their product names.
It shows your cost, your resale price, and your resale price with tax on each item.
7-10
Using The Inventory Database
Inventory Price List By Category
This report alphabetizes by product type, then product name. It also shows the product
supplier, your cost, your resale price, and your resale price with tax on each item.
Open to Buy by Category
This report gives a summary of all of the items in the database where the “Max. # to Keep
On Hand” field is greater than the “Amount on Hand” field. In other words, it summarizes and prints only those items that are currently open to buy by category, and then by
product name. It shows the maximum amount of that item that you would like to keep on
hand, the amount currently in stock (according to the last time you took inventory), the
value of your stock (the cost x the amount in stock), and the amount currently open to
buy.
Open to Buy by Supplier
Like the report above, this report gives a summary of all of the items in the database
where the “Max. # to Keep On Hand” field is greater than the “Amount on Hand” field.
In other words, it summarizes and prints only those items that are currently open to buy.
But this report sorts them and summarizes them by Supplier, and then by product name,
Using The Inventory Database
7-11
thus allowing ease in ordering supplies by allowing you to see all items that you might
want to buy from a given supplier. It also shows the maximum amount of that item that
you would like to keep on hand, the amount currently in stock (according to the last time
you took inventory), the cost (to you) when you buy this product, the total value of your
current inventory, and the amount currently open to buy.
Print Product Labels By Category (Avery 5162 Labels)
This report prints labels of all of the items in the Inventory database so that you may place
these labels on the shelves, boxes, containers, etc., of the items you keep in the inventory
database. These labels are set up to print on Avery® 5162 labels (available at most decent
office supply stores for your laser or inkjet printer). Each label has the name of the item in
bold at the top, then gives the AcuBaseTM Product ID number (to make finding that item
in the Inventory database easy), the maximum amount of that item to keep in stock, the
cost to you, your retail price, and the product supplier’s name.
7-12
Using The Inventory Database
Detailed and Summary Reports of Products Sold
Reports related to products you have actually sold may be run from Reports button within
the Patient Information and Billing database (also accessible from the Main Menu by
clicking on the Reports button, then the Billing tab). You may go directly to the Patient
Information and Billing Reports screen from the Inventory reports screen by clicking on
the related message at the bottom of the Inventory Reports screen.
Getting Help
The help screens in the Inventory database are some of the most impressive in all of
AcuBaseTM. To get help from any screen, simply click on the “Help” button at the top of
that screen.
Getting Out of the Inventory Database
To get out of the Inventory database, simply click on the Main Menu button or go to the
File menu and select “Exit” to exit out of AcuBaseTM completely.
Chapter 8: The Vendor Information Database
Vendor Information Database Overview
Not only does AcuBaseTM come with thousands of records in its Reference Library, and
many useful practice management tools, but you may also enter information related to
your top inventory suppliers. In addition, for those who use Oriental medical supplements, we have already entered information from top suppliers. Trigram Software has
been given permission from some of the world’s top suppliers of herbs, formulas, patent
formulas, Oriental medical information, and related supplies to include their vendor and
product information in our databases. We have poured much of this information into our
Patent Formulas and Vendor Information databases. The Vendor Information database
allows you to:
•
Keep track of, edit, or delete available vendor contact information, including addresses, phone numbers, and other info.
•
Add, edit, or delete your own vendors and their related information.
•
For each vendor, view their related patent formulas, standard formulas, herbs, and any
products that you may have purchased from them and keep in inventory.
•
Link directly to any related patent formula, standard formula, herb, or inventory item
associated with a given vendor.
•
View copyrighted information supplied to Trigram Software with permission from top
vendors, including: Blue Poppy Herbs, K’an Herbs, Health Concerns, East West
Herbs, Evergreen Herbs and Medical Supplies, Golden Flower Chinese Herbs,
Mayway (Plum Flower and Min Shan), Chinese Modular Solutions, Spring Wind
Herbs, Tashi Enterprises (Min Tong), NuHerbs, Sun Ten / Brion Herbs Corp., and the
Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine and Preventive Health.
•
View available context-sensitive help at every turn.
8-2
The Vendor Information Database
Using the Vendor Information Database
Upon opening the “Vendor Information” database from the Main Menu, you are taken
directly to “List View.” At this point, all of the vendors in the database are listed alphabetically by name. Most of AcuBase’s standard options are available at the top of the
screen, including an “Edit Record” button, which allows you to change or add information
related to any given vendor. If you want more details on a given vendor in the database,
simply click on the button to the left of it to view the record as a “form” (this does the
same as the “View as Form” button at the top of the screen). To go from one record to the
next in Form View, simply click on the arrow buttons to go forward or backward. Context-sensitive help is available from every screen. Just look for the “?” button at the top
and/or bottom of the screen.
When you go to Form View, you will notice that there are three tabs which separate
vendor information into the categories of Contact Information, Vendor Literature, and
Vendor Products & Inventory. This allows AcuBaseTM to keep track of items properly in
other parts of the program. Regardless of which tab you use, all of the layouts are the
same, and may be broken down as follows:
The Vendor Information Database
8-3
Vendor Contact Information Tab
The default Form View tab is the Contact Info tab. This tab shows up to three vendorrelated logos / graphics, as well as general contact information related to each vendor.
Phone and e-mail contact information, as well as comments / notes may be added to or
edited here. At the bottom of the screen, where it says, “Does this vendor sell standard
herbs and formulas?”, a “Yes” answer to this means that the vendor sells single herbs and
non-patent formulas. Answering “Yes” here also links this vendor to the Vendors tab in
the Herbs and Formulas sections of the Reference Library, and will also show herbs and
formulas under the “Vendor Products & Inventory” tab.
To edit the vendor address and web contact information, click on the “Edit Record”
button at the top of the screen.
Vendor Literature Tab
The Vendor Literature tab shows information provided by permission from each vendor to
Trigram Software for inclusion in AcuBaseTM. Note that all information in this section of
the database, as well as vendor-related patent formulas, is protected by copyrights owned
by that vendor. This is the kind of information one might usually find contained in vendor
catalogs or binders, with details about dosage, diagnosis, use of vendor-related products,
8-4
The Vendor Information Database
etc. Because each vendor provided us with varying amounts of information in many
different formats (Mac, PC; Word, PhotoShop, PageMaker, Quark), we were forced to do
our best to distill it all into a form and format the could be viewed in a database. In many
cases, we were given books of several hundred pages (such a those from K’an, Evergreen,
ITM, and Chinese Modular Solutions). While we were able to put most of the information into the database, graphics and special formatting were not copied over. Thus, if you
would like further information about any of these vendors, we strongly recommend that
you use the Contact Info tab to contact the vendor yourself in order to obtain their
original materials.
All vendor literature in the Vendor Literature tab has been organized in the same fashion.
On the left side of the screen, you will see a “Table of Contents.” The items in the Table
of Contents are shown in the order provided to us by each vendor. Subtopics appear with
a “!” to their left. To view any topic, simply click on it in the Table of Contents, and it
will appear in full on the right side of the screen. If the text is longer than the viewable
area of the screen, you may click into it and use the scroll bar that appears to the right of
the text.
Because the information in this section of the database has been copyrighted, AcuBaseTM
does not permit the user to print out the vendor literature, nor the related patent formula
information. Note that, while you can edit (and delete!) vendor information, AcuBaseTM
does not provide any means of adding or editing topics in the Table of Contents. This
goes for new or existing vendors. Vendor literature information may only be added by
Trigram Software. If you are a vendor and wish to be added to AcuBase’s vendor
information database, please contact us at 1-888-4ACUBASE.
Vendor Products & Inventory Tab
The Vendor Products & Inventory tab shows patent formulas, standard formulas, herbs,
and inventory in AcuBase related to a given vendor. For many vendors, several of these
tabs may have no information. For example, East West Herbs does not supply single herbs
or non-patent formulas, so these tabs will not have any information in them.
To view vendor-specific patent formulas, standard formulas, herbs, or available vendorspecific inventory, simply click on the appropriate tab. If you wish to see details about a
given herb, formula, or inventory item, click on the box to the left of that item. To add a
specific herb or formula to inventory, click on the box to the left of that item to go to its
details, and add it from there, or else add it from the Inventory database.
The Vendor Information Database
8-5
Note that the information that appears in the above-mentioned tabs is not exhaustive.
Rather, it is solely a list of herbs and formulas that a vendor provides with are in the
AcuBaseTM database. While we try to get as many of the formulas and herb in our
database as possible, there are hundreds of standard herbs and formulas which several
vendors may offer which do not appear in the database. Call you vendor for further
details.
Editing and Adding New Vendors to the Vendor Products Database
To add a new item to the Vendor Products database, simply click on the “New Record”
button. This will take you to a new, blank vendor screen into which you may add new
vendor information. When you are done, click on the “Contact Info” tab.
To edit any vendor record, you must be in List View or Form View’s Contact Info tab
layout. From either of these layouts, click on the “Edit Record” button at the top of the
screen to access the “Edit Vendor Information” screen. Here you will see existing vendor
information, and may edit it as you wish.
On both the “New Record” and “Edit Record” screens, you may also enter up to three
logos or other graphics associated with each vendor. To delete a graphic, simply click on
it and click on the backspace or delete key on your keyboard. The easiest way to place a
graphic in these fields is to open your graphic in another graphics program and copy it
there. Once it is copied, switch back to AcuBaseTM and literally click in the graphic field
and select “Paste” from the Edit menu.
8-6
The Vendor Information Database
You will also note that the edit and new record screens have a message on the bottom of
the screen that reads “Does this vendor also provide standard herbs and formulas?” If you
click on the “Yes” radio button, this vendor will be connected to all of AcuBase’s standard
herbs and formulas. Thus, when you go to the “Vendor Products & Inventory” tab for this
vendor, you will see lists of herbs and standard formulas related to that vendor. If you do
not select “Yes” on this screen, the standard herbs and formulas tabs will remain blank.
Once you have added a new vendor, that vendor will appear in future pop-up lists in the
Patent Formulas and Inventory databases.
Finding A Vendor
To perform a “find,” simply click on the “Find Record” button from any given layout. A
blank screen will appear that shows the fields that you can find by. Simply enter the
information (or any part of it) into the appropriate fields that you would like to find, and
click on the “Continue” button on the left side of the screen. If only one record was
found, that one record will be shown, and you must click on a tab to go back to the main
database. If more than one record is found, you will be taken directly to View as List to
see a list of the found records.
Like any other find request, the Find feature in the Vendor Information database follows
the rules of a find given in Chapter 2, under “Finding Records.” Refer to that section
for more detailed information on finding records.
Find All
Once you have done a find for a set of records, only those records are available to view
from that point forward. To bring all items in the Inventory database back into the “found
set,” click on the “Find All” button (available from any layout). This will take you back to
the “View As List” screen, where you may see all available vendors in the database in
alphabetical order.
Deleting Items in the Vendor Information Database
To delete items in the Inventory database, from Form View, simply click on the “Delete
Record” button. You will be given the option of canceling the delete process before it is
finished. Once you confirm the deletion, you will not be able to recover that record.
AcuBaseTM automatically saves changes as they are made, so deletions are permanent.
Always keep backups of all of your data!
The Vendor Information Database
8-7
Getting Help
To get help from any screen, click on the “Help” button at the top of that
screen.
Getting Out of the Vendor Information Database
To get out of the Inventory database, simply click on the Main Menu button or go to the
File menu and select “Exit” to exit out of AcuBase TM completely.
8-8
The Vendor Information Database
Chapter 9: The Reference Library Databases
Reference Library Databases Overview
Not only does AcuBaseTM provide you with many great practice management tools, we
have also included a free traditional Oriental medical library, complete with almost 2,000
records: hundreds of formulas, herbs, points, review questions taken from state and
national board exam reading lists, and over 500 patent formulas and related information
from the top vendors in the industry! While this may sound great in itself, perhaps the
most valuable part of this library is what doesn’t come with it: your personal clinical
preferences and experiences, which each database has been designed to incorporate.
That’s right, the Reference Library has been designed to accommodate your techniques,
your preferences, and your clinical experiences.
The Reference Library features:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Almost 3,000 records: herbs, formulas, patent formulas, acupoints, a drug / herb
information database, and several hundred review questions.
Point-, herb-, and formula-specific layouts.
Chinese characters for herbs and formulas.
Full integration with the rest of AcuBaseTM. For each herb, view related formulas and
patent formulas, as well as vendors who supply each herb and how much you may
have in stock. For formulas and patent formulas, link directly to the vendors that
supply each formula and read through vendor-supplied information; adjust your
inventory; and link directly to the herbs in each formula with a click of the mouse.
Reports that print in a variety of formats, including index cards and formulas with
associated dosages and Chinese characters.
The ability to view potential interactions between the most popular prescription and
over-the-counter medications and herbal medicines, as well as a list of herbal equivalents to popular medications from John Chen, Pharm.D., D.O.M., L.Ac., founder of
Evergreen Herbs and the Lotus Institute. You may also view and print extensive
pharmacokinetic information written by Dr. Chen.
The ability to add, delete, and/or edit any information in any field, and add or delete
any records
Easy, flexible searches for symptom-specific data.
Sorting by any field with the click of a button.
A consistent, intuitive interface.
Context-sensitive help available from any screen.
And all the other features that made our first AcuBaseTM program the standard for
traditional Oriental medical reference software!
9-2
The Reference Library Databases
Using the Reference Library Databases
The Reference Library databases have been designed with an intuitive interface through
every step of the design process. Every layout contains the same general template found
throughout the rest of the database, such that, if one understands the basic organization of
the data in one area (such as herbs), then access to and manipulation of data in another
area (such as formulas or acupoints) is simple.
To open the Reference Library database, click on the Reference Library icon from the
Main Menu, or click on any of its related topics (AcuPoints, Herbs, Formulas, Patent
Formulas, Herb / Drug Interactions, or Review Topics). If you do not see the Reference
Library from your Main Menu, go to the bottom of the Main Menu screen and click where
it says, “To Change Your Main Menu Preference(s), click here.” This will take you to the
Main Menu Preferences, where you can choose to include the Reference Library as part of
your Main Menu.
Upon opening any of the associated databases, you are presented with all of the records/
data related to that subject in list format. To see more details about a given acupuncture
point, herb, or formula, one may easily switch to Form View by simply pressing a button
located next to the name of the point/herb/formula, or clicking on the “View As Form”
button at the top of the screen. Most herbs and formulas have Chinese characters
included, and reports may be printed in long form, or on index cards. Herbs, points,
formulas, and/or questions may be searched by any field in any layout. Finding the right
points, herbs, or formulas by indication is simple and quick.
Please note that, while AcuBase comes with hundreds of acupuncture points, herbs,
formulas, and review topics already provided, the information included herein is in
no way intended to be a primary source, and is intended to be used only for educational reference, not as guidelines for the treatment of patients. The intent of this
product is to give the acupuncturist, acupuncture student, or anyone interested in
traditional Chinese medicine, a dynamic way of storing and referencing their own
information. Information that was in the database at the time it was purchased is
meant to serve as a template, and no more.
The Reference Library Databases
9-3
View as List Mode
Upon clicking on the Acupoints, Herbs, Formulas, Patent Formulas, or Exam Questions
buttons from the AcuBaseTM Main Menu, all of the respective points, herbs, formulas,
patent formulas, or questions in the database are sorted and presented in List format. If
you want more details on a given record or to change anything about that record, simply
click on the box/button to the left of that record to view the record as a “form” (this does
the same as the “View as Form” button at the top of the screen).
View as Form
View as Form, or “Form View,” shows individual records and their details. As stated
above, you may see details on any record (acupoint, herb, formula, or patent formula) by
clicking on the “View as Form” button or clicking on the box/button to the left of that
record to view the record as a “form.”
Form View is where you want to be to enter new information about any given point, herb,
formula, or patent formula, as well as to perform “finds.” It is also the place to be to view
herb pictures (click on the “photo” button from within the herbs form view).
Toggle Status Area
The Toggle Status Area button shows the database’s “Status Area.” This is simply a
graphic of a card file that shows how many records are in the database, how many are
being viewed, and whether or not they are sorted. This is particularly useful in Form
View, as you will only be able to see one record at a time from within Form View, and may
know how many records are available to view at any given time without viewing the
Status Area. It is also useful after doing a “Find” to show how many records were found.
9-4
The Reference Library Databases
Sorting Records
This is the sort button. While the Library defaults to sort by the point number, herb name
(pinyin), formula name (pinyin), patent formula name, and subject of exam question,
respectively (depending on which option was chosen from the Main Menu), the user may
also choose to sort and view the contents of any database by any field with a sort button
located next to it. Sort by the field by simply clicking on the sort button. If you wish to
sort by other fields that do not have the sort button next to their respective field name, you
may go to the Mode pull-down menu and select “Sort…”
Adding New Records and Modifying Existing Records
To enter a new record into any database, click on the “New Record” button. AcuBaseTM
will then give you a blank record into which you may enter whatever you please.
To enter or modify data, simply click in a field and/or tab between fields. If you need to
use more room than the field appears to hold, go ahead. Each field will only show a finite
amount of data on the screen, but will actually accommodate an almost unlimited amount
of information. Note that, while field size is virtually unlimited, fields with an abundance
of information will only show a small amount of that information when printed!
The Reference Library Databases
9-5
Adding Chinese Characters
AcuBase’s intuitive interface makes adding and deleting records simple. However, adding
Chinese characters may not be as obvious as adding regular text. To add Chinese characters, the characters must be saved as an image, preferably as a PICT, EPS, TIFF, JPEG, or
GIF file. Characters may then be copied from whichever graphics program it was saved
in, and pasted into the Chinese field in the appropriate herb or formula layout.
Finding Records
To perform a “find,” simply click on the “Find Record” button. A blank screen will appear
from which you may enter the information you wish to find into the appropriate fields.
Simply enter the information (or any part of it) into the appropriate fields, and click on the
“Find” button or hit the Enter or Return key on your keyboard. To see how many records
were found, click on the “Toggle Status Area” button near the top-left part of the screen.
Like any other find request, the Find feature in the every part of the AcuBaseTM database
follows the rules of a find given in Chapter 2, under “Finding Records.” Refer to that
section for more detailed information on finding records.
Find All
Once you have done a find for a set of records, only those records are available to view
from that point forward. To bring all records back into the “found set,” click on the “Find
All” button, or choose “Find All” from the Select menu.
Deleting Records
To delete items from any database, simply click on the “Delete Record” button. You will
be given the option of canceling the delete process before it is finished. Once you confirm
the deletion, you will not be able to recover that record! AcuBase automatically saves
changes as they are made, so deletions are permanent. Always keep backups of all of your
data!
9-6
The Reference Library Databases
Printing Records (Reports)
To print the exam questions, simply click on the “Print Questions” button from within the
Exam Questions layout.
To create a report, you must first find and sort the records that you want in your report
(see “Finding Records” and “Sorting Records,” above). Once you have found and sorted
the records you would like to include, click on the “Reports” button at the top of the
screen. This will take you to the Reports window.
From the Reports screen, type in a name (if any) that you would like printed as the title of
the report (such as “Herb Cards” or “Acupoint Report”), and then click on the appropriate
report button to print that report. You are given two or three choices of reports, depending upon which database you are in. Within the Acupoints, Herbs, and Formulas databases, you may print Full Reports or Index Cards. Full Reports print, on average, two
points, herbs, or formulas per page, whereas Index Cards print acupoints on 3 x 5 inch
index cards, and herbs and formulas on 4 x 6 inch cards (obviously limiting the amount of
information that may fit on each card). Index cards may be printed on regular 8.5 x 11inch paper— AcuBaseTM creates borders around each card so that they may be cut out and
folded along the dotted line provided.
The Reference Library Databases
9-7
The Formulas database also contains a “Formulas & Herbs Only” report. This report will
print one formula per page. Each page will have the formula name(s), the herbs within it,
and the dosage. This report is intended for when a doctor or patient needs to go to an
herb store to pick up the contents of a given formula. The report may easily be given to
the herbalist to have the formula prescription filled.
Note that AcuBaseTM report formats may not be modified in any way. Also note that, due
to the constraints of copyright law, AcuBase does not provide reports related to patent
formulas or their associated vendors’ information.
Getting Help
To get help from any screen, simply click on the “Help” button for that screen.
Getting Out of the Reference Library Database
To get out of any Reference Library database, simply click on the Main Menu button to go
to the AcuBaseTM Main Menu. If you wish to quit out of AcuBaseTM completely, go to the
File menu and select “Exit” from within any part of the program.
Features Specific to the Herbs and Formulas Databases
Related Herbs & Formulas
AcuBaseTM has several features that take advantage of its unique relational architecture.
As perennial students of traditional Chinese medicine, we constantly need to crossreferences herbs within a given formula, as well as look for formulas that contain a given
herb. This new version of AcuBaseTM makes such cross-referencing simple and intuitive.
For each herb in the Herbs database, you may click on the “Related Formulas” tab from
the “Form View” to view all related standard and patent formulas within AcuBaseTM which
contain the herb you are viewing as one of their ingredients. Just as in List View, you may
click on the small box just to the left of each formula or patent formula, which will take
you to the details of that specific formula.
Similar functions may be seen in the Formulas and Patent Formulas databases. When
viewing an individual formula, clicking on the “Herbs” tab will not only show you all of
the herbs in that formula, but will also allow you to go to the details of each herb by
clicking on the box to its left.
9-8
The Reference Library Databases
The Herbs database automatically cross-references all formulas and patent formulas that
are in AcuBaseTM. So, if you happen to add a new herb to the Herbs database, all related
formulas that may contain that herb will automatically appear.
When editing or adding new formulas or patent formulas, you may click on the “Herbs”
tab and add each herb by simply clicking on the first blank line on the herbs list. This will
pop up a list (alphabetical by pinyin name) of all herbs in the database. Clicking on the
appropriate herb in the list will auto-enter it into the list, as well as its related Chinese
characters and Latin or pharmaceutical names (if available). If the herb you would like to
add is not on the pop-up list, simply double-click on the pop-up list field, and manually
enter the herb name. If you later add the missing herb to the Herbs database, your entry
will be automatically linked. You may also enter dosages for individual herbs in a formula.
By default, Trigram Software did not wish to add these values for any formulas, except
where they were offered by a patent formula’s vendor.
The Reference Library Databases
9-9
Checking Suppliers and Adding to Inventory
Supplier and inventory information may also be viewed and adjusted from each of the
Herbs, Formulas, and Patent Formulas databases. For standard herbs and formulas, you
may access this information through the “Suppliers & Inventory” tab when viewing an
individual herb or formula (“View As Form”). Vendors in the Vendor Information
database who supply standard herbs and formulas show up on the left side of the screen
with questions marks next to each of them. To get more information on any one of these
vendors, simply click on its associated question mark. Additional vendors may be added
through the Vendor Information database.
To the right of the list of suppliers is a list of current inventory for this item. If this herb or
formula is currently in inventory, the item’s vendor and the amount of the item on hand
will appear on the list. To go to that item in the inventory database, simply click on the
box to the left of that item. If you wish to add this item to your inventory, click the “Add
To Inventory” button on the top of the screen. Similarly, the “Patients” tab will list all
patients who have bought this formula, and clicking on the box to the left of their name
will take you to the invoice upon which that formula is listed.
9-10
The Reference Library Databases
Duplicating Standard Formulas
In many cases, you may wish to add your own formula to AcuBaseTM. If it is based on a
standard formula that is already in the database, you may duplicate the pre-existing
formula, and then simply rename and modify it as you see fit.
To duplicate a formula, click on the name of the formula in View As List mode, or view
the formula in View As Form mode, and then go to the Commands menu and select
“Duplicate This Formula.”
Features Unique to the Patent Formulas Database
The Patent Formulas database is unique in several ways. First, all data from the Patent
Formulas database was submitted to Trigram Software for inclusion in AcuBaseTM by the
creators and/or chief distributors of the formulas. At the time of this writing, those
vendors include: K’an Herbs, Health Concerns, East West Herbs, Evergreen Herbs,
Golden Flower Chinese Herbs, Mayway (Plum Flower and Min Shan), Chinese Modular
Solutions, NuHerbs, Spring Wind Herbs, Tashi Enterprises (Min Tong), and the Institute
for Traditional Chinese Medicine and Preventive Health.
The Reference Library Databases
9-11
Because the formulas in the Patent Formulas database were developed by their associated
vendors, and because their related written materials are copyright protected, AcuBaseTM
does not offer any patent formula-related reports. You may, however, modify as much
information as you would like to in the Patent Formulas database
Finally, unlike standard herbs and formulas, each of which may have several vendors, each
of the patent formulas has only one vendor associated with it. This vendor’s name may be
seen in both Form View and List View. From Form View’s General Information tab, the
left side of the screen shows the vendor name and logo(s), and, just below the logo(s), the
amount of the patent formula in stock in the Inventory database. To get more information
on a given vendor, simply click on that vendor’s logo or on the “Go To Vendor” button (at
the top of each screen). To add or modify a given patent formula in the Inventory
database, you may also click on the “Add To Inventory” button on the top of the General
Information tab screen.
Note: Patent formulas, as well as standard herbs and formulas, do not have prices
associated with them because prices are constantly in flux and vary by the form in which
the items take (powders, capsules, etc.). In addition, AcuBaseTM does not use the vendor
item numbers for vendor-related patents, as they may conflict with the ability of the
program to properly index relational data. Both prices and vendor-specific item numbers
may be added from within the Inventory database.
The Herb / Drug Information Database
The Herb / Drug Information database is the latest addition to the AcuBaseTM Reference
Library. Provided by Lotus Institute and Evergreen Herbs founder, USC pharmacology
professor, and California licensed acupuncturist John Chen, Pharm.D., Ph.D., OMD, this
database contains lists of the most common prescription and over-the-counter medications, along with comments on how herbal absorption may be affected. The Herb/Drug
Information database also contains 1,000 common medications and their herbal equivalents from the Evergreen Herbs formulary. (Each Evergreen formula may be found in the
Patent Formulas database.) All information in this database may be printed out.
The Herb/Drug Information database comes with an extensive written commentary by Dr.
Chen on herb/drug interactions, as well.
Note that this section of AcuBase provides valuable information for doctors and
patients who prefer to use herbs rather than drugs, or to use herbs as supplements to
the regular prescription medication. The indexes compare the similarities between
drugs and herbs. However, it is important to note that the indexes do not imply
therapeutic equivalence, and the herbal alternatives as listed are not substitutes for
their corresponding drugs. Professional judgment and careful evaluation must be
exercised prior to recommending the herbal formulas to the patients.
9-12
The Reference Library Databases
Appendix A: Frequently Asked Questions
Over the years, we have had a number of the same questions asked of us repeatedly. What
follows are some answers to the most frequently asked questions, as well as a number of
answers to questions we anticipate receiving with this new version of AcuBaseTM.
Question (Q):
Do I need to keep the AcuBase CD in my computer in order to run the program?
Answer (A):
NO. Once you have installed AcuBaseTM, you do not need to keep the CD in the CDROM drive unless you wish to access text files used to set up a relationship with a billing
clearinghouse (see the Electronic Billing chapter), or to access the Adobe PDF version of
this user’s manual.
Q:
I know that I need to keep a backup of my AcuBase data current at all times. How
do I make a backup?
A:
It is essential that you keep a backup of all files related to AcuBaseTM, as well as any and
all other mission-critical files that you use. This is your responsibility as a businessperson
and a prudent computer user. We recommend using a Zip Drive (By Iomega) on a daily
basis (use 5 disks—a separate disk for every day of the week), which can hold at least 100
megabytes of data on each Zip disk. Any other media that may provide reliable backup of
at least 50 megabytes of data and is easy to restore in case of data loss may also be
employed. Note that backing up to a CD-RW makes the AcuBaseTM files read-only. If
you need to recover lost data from a backup on CD, you will need to select all of the files
after you’ve moved them to your hard drive, and then un-select the “Read-Only” designation in order to make your files modifiable.
Simply backing up the AcuBaseTM folder/directory (with the program CLOSED) will save
all data related to the program. Mac users, copy the AcuBaseTM folder from your hard
drive to your backup media. PC users, back up the AcuBase directory, located at
C:\program files\trigram software\acubase (where “C:” equals the letter of your hard
drive).
A-2
Frequently Asked Questions
Q:
I have a really old / really new computer. Will AcuBase work with my computer and
operating system?
A:
AcuBaseTM will run on any Macintosh with a Power PC 601 Processor or higher (including Mac OS X) with at least 32 MB of RAM, or an Intel-compatible Pentium-class 486/33
or higher computer with 32 MB of RAM. Your operating system needs to be any of the
following: Apple System 8.1 or higher, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me,
Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP, or Windows NT 4.0 (with Service Pack 3 or
later). You also need a hard disk with at least 50 MB of free memory, a CD-ROM drive,
and a laser printer or high quality ink jet printer.
Q:
Why aren’t all of the menu items for each screen explained in the user’s manual or
anywhere else?
A:
AcuBaseTM was created in FileMaker Pro 5.5. As a result, users have access to many of
the menu items at the top of the screen that FileMaker provides. We highly recommend
that AcuBaseTM users stick to the buttons at the top of each screen which have been
provided. While you may add a new record, for instance, from the File menu, the New
Record button has scripts that make sure that the integrity of the database is kept consistent. The one exception to this suggestion is the Commands menu. The Commands
menu has a list of commands for which keyboard shortcuts may be used. These shortcuts,
once learned, may provide faster navigation through the program without the necessity of
using the mouse.
Q:
Can I import data from other programs, or export data? It appears that there is an
import and export capability in the program.
A:
Trigram Software will not support importing or exporting to or from AcuBaseTM, except
within the context of upgrading from a previous version of AcuBaseTM. We highly
recommend that you do NOT attempt to import or export records to or from AcuBaseTM.
AcuBaseTM is a relational database, which means, among other things, that the information
you are viewing at any one time may actually be kept in one of many different related
databases that you never see (to see what we mean, the next time you go to the Patient
Information and Billing database, click on the “Window” menu to see all of the related
databases open in the background). AcuBaseTM is NOT designed to export to QuickBooks
or any other program. You may, however, copy data or a large block of text from one
field or document, and paste it into a given field within AcuBaseTM. (For instance, if you
have written an intake for a given patient in Microsoft Word, you may copy it there, and
paste it into a new Intake (under the “Intakes and Activities tab”) within that patient’s
record in AcuBaseTM.
Frequently Asked Questions
A-3
Q:
How do I upgrade from an older version of AcuBase to AcuBase 2.003?
A:
If you own AcuBase 2.000 or 2.001, even if you upgraded through the Web to version
2.002, you will need to have Trigram Software convert your data to the 2.003 version.
The reason for this is that the current version, 2.003, was created in a newer, faster
database engine that is not compatible with the engine used to run older versions. Trigram
Software charges a fee of $99 to upgrade your data from an older verison.
If you bought version 2.002 and have purchased this new 2.003 version, and would like to
bring your existing data into the version, you will need to take the following additional
steps to ensure that all patient information, billing, preferences, activities, and inventory
information properly imports into the new version.
1.
Do a “Find All” for Existing Data… The import of your existing Billing data requires that
we first “Find All” information in the Lineitem, Txcodes, and Diag databases. You are
simply preparing the databases to be moved into the new program.
A. From with the OLD (2.002) AcuBaseTM program, start at the Main Menu, go to the
Patient Information and Billing database, and select any patient. Go to the “Billing”
tab, click on the “Window” menu at the top of the screen, and select the “Lineitem”
database. From that Lineitem screen, you will need to do a “Find All” to bring all
records into the database. PC users hold down the Ctrl button and the letter “J” on
the keyboard; Mac users the Apple/Command button and the letter “J”. You may not
see anything happen on the screen, and that’s okay.
B. Next, click on the “Return to Main Menu” button, and click on the Preferences
button. Select the “Billing Codes” tab, and once again click on the “Window” menu
at the top of the screen, this time selecting the “Txcodes” database. From here, once
again do a “Find All” (PC users hold down the Ctrl button and the letter “J” on the
keyboard; Mac users the Apple/Command button and the letter “J”.)
C. Finally, click on the “Return to Main Menu” button, and click again on the Preferences button. Select the “Diagnosis Codes” tab, click on the “Window” menu at the
top of the screen, and select the “Txcodes” database. From here, once again do a
“Find All” (PC users hold down the Ctrl button and the letter “J” on the keyboard;
Mac users the Apple/Command button and the letter “J”.)
D. Return to the Main Menu and close AcuBaseTM.
A-4
Frequently Asked Questions
2.
Rename Files to be Imported… The second major step in preparing to import existing
data from your 2.002 version into the 2.003 version of AcuBaseTM involves renaming
certain files by adding the number “2” to the end of them. Later, AcuBaseTM will look for
these files and import the data within them. Because AcuBaseTM is looking for these file
names, if they are renamed improperly (due to typos, etc.), the import of your data will
fail. So be sure to follow these directions as closely as possible! Note that, if you already
have file names with the number “2” appended to the end, you should replace them with
the renamed files below.
A. With AcuBaseTM closed, go to your old (2.002) AcuBaseTM program directory/folder.
(Mac users, this is wherever you installed AcuBase—your hard drive or desktop,
most likely. PC users, using My Computer or Windows Explorer, go to your C: drive
[hard drive] and go to Program Files / Trigram Software / AcuBase directory.)
B. Within the 2.002 AcuBase directory (and, again, with the program closed), you will
need to rename the following files exactly as you see below:
Old File Name
New File Name
activity ---------------------------------------- activity2
billing ----------------------------------------- billing2
bldprdts --------------------------------------- bldprdts2
diag ------------------------------------------- diag2
herbcos --------------------------------------- herbcos2
insur ------------------------------------------- insur2
invconts -------------------------------------- invconts2
inventor --------------------------------------- inventor2
letters ----------------------------------------- letters2
Lineitem -------------------------------------- lineitem2
mainmenu ------------------------------------ mainmenu2
patients (NOT patents!) ------------------- patients2
patinfo ---------------------------------------- patinfo2
refer ------------------------------------------- refer2
txcodes --------------------------------------- txcodes2
3.
Once you have renamed the above files, select all of these files at once and Copy them (go
to the “Edit” menu, then “Copy”).
4.
Paste all of these files into your newly installed AcuBase folder. (Mac users, this is
wherever you installed AcuBase 2.003—your hard drive or desktop, most likely. PC
users, using My Computer or Windows Explorer, go to your C: drive [hard drive] and go
to the Program Files / Trigram Software / AcuBase 2.003 directory.)
Frequently Asked Questions
A-5
5.
Once the files have been pasted into the AcuBase 2.003 folder, you may open the new
2.003 program.
6.
You may now run the import by going to the Commands menu from the Main Menu, and
selecting “Update from 2.002 Version of AcuBase.” You will be asked to verify that you
have completed the major steps listed above, and will be given the option to stop the
process if you had missed a step. You will also be asked a series of questions to help
AcuBaseTM determine which files it needs to import from. As you confirm that you have
completed all relevant steps, the import will proceed automatically.
Once the import is complete and the program closes, open it back up again and check that
your data has come across properly. If it did not, you will need to uninstall and reinstall
AcuBaseTM, and then repeat these instructions
Q:
Why do my reports or print jobs sometimes look fine in Preview mode, but then
only print one record or one line from my printer?
A:
On some occasions, the print preview of a report may look good, but when you go to
print, the printed version only prints one line of data in the report. If this happens, go to
print the report again and, when your printer’s print dialog window comes up (the first
window after the print preview), make sure that “Print: Records Being Browsed” is
selected, rather than “Print: Current Record.”
Q:
Why is it that, when printing superbills or HCFA forms for some of my patients, the
provider name and clinic information (HCFA box 33) do not show up? I know that
I entered this information correctly into the Preferences section of AcuBase!
A:
This issue often comes up when patient information has been entered prior to setting up
provider preference information. Because each patient is assigned a provider as soon as
the patient is entered into the database, if the provider preferences were not entered before
the patient was put into the database (or were changed after the patient was put in), the
correct provider information will not show up in box 33 of the HCFA 1500 form. You
will have to go back and reassign the correct provider to each patient in the database to fix
this. To do this, simply go to the Patient Information tab for the patient in question, click
on the Provider field at the top of the screen, and pick a provider OTHER than the correct
one. Click anywhere to set and save this incorrect provider. Then click in the field again,
and pick the correct provider for the patient. Doing this resets the patient record to the
correct provider. If you are seeing this issue come up repeatedly with many different
patient bills, you may wish to do a “Replace All” for the provider field so that you do not
have to manually reassign the provider for each patient in the database individually. To do
this, see the instructions on the “Replace All” feature discussed in Chapter 2.
A-6
Frequently Asked Questions
Q:
How do I duplicate a patient record or an invoice?
A:
Unfortunately, even though you may go to the Records menu and select “Duplicate
Record,” we HIGHLY recommend you do not do this. Because AcuBaseTM is a relational
database, duplicating a patient record also duplicates its internal (unique) reference
information, and hence all related information (such as activities, invoices, etc.). This
means that any changes you make to the newly duplicated record will also be made to the
old record, and you will essentially have two duplicate records, neither of which you can
modify without the modification happening in both the old and the new records. (Make
sense?) Further, if you do duplicate a record, and then try to delete it, you will delete
both the newly duplicated AND the original record!
Instead of duplicating, take the time to create a new patient record or invoice. It may
seem time-consuming, but it will actually save you time over a failed file duplication. Also
remember to stick to the buttons on the top of each screen, using only the Commands
menu and File menu as necessary.
Q:
Does AcuBase have a Spelling Dictionary?
A:
Funny you should ask… Why, yes, it does! AcuBaseTM users may check the spelling of any
record by going to the Edit menu, and selecting “Spelling.” The default dictionary is U.S.
English. Select “Check Record” to check only the record you are viewing, or “Check All”
to check all records in the database you are looking at. You can also select the option
under Edit / Spelling of “Select Dictionaries…” Select the User.UPR file in the your
AcuBase directory’s “FileMaker Extensions” directory in order to build your own custom
dictionary (useful with all the Pinyin you may be using).
Q:
How can I limit what I find or what I print to a given date range? How can I find
all of the records in the database for a given report?
A:
A date range is entered as two dates with “…” between them. For example, to find all
transaction for the year 2001 only, after you click the “Find” button at the top of the
screen, or from the “Find Info for Reports” screen that comes up when you try to create a
new report, you would enter “01/01/2001…12/31/2001” [without the quotes] and click
the “Find” button.)
To find all records, after you click the “Find” button at the top of the screen, or from the
“Find Info for Reports” screen that comes up when you try to create a new report, simply
click on the “Find” or “Continue” button without having entered any find criteria.
For more extensive information on all of the different ways you can Find records, see
“To Find Records” section of this user manual’s Chapter 2: Getting Started with
AcuBase .
Frequently Asked Questions
A-7
Q:
When I print a Transaction Summary By Month report, why don’t my months
come out sorted correctly?
A:
Some users have reported issues with months and their years printing in incorrect order.
We have found this to be an issue with users who have data in the database that dates back
to, or before, the year 2000. If this happens to you, simply run this report for one year at
a time rather than for multiple years. To do this, when the Find Info for Reports window
comes up (before the print preview), in the “Invoice Date(s)” field, enter your date range
and click the “Find” button. (A date range is entered as two dates with “…” between
them. For example, to find all transaction for the year 2001 only, you would enter “01/01/
2001…12/31/2001” [without the quotes] and click the “Find” button.)
Q:
How do I print all of the invoices for a given patient (onto either a HCFA 1500 form
or a superbill)?
A:
To print all invoices for a given patient, go to that patient’s Billing tab, select a preexisting invoice or create a new one, and then click on the “View All Invoices” button.
From View as List mode, you may print all of the patient’s invoices on either HCFA 1500
forms or superbills by clicking on the appropriate button at the top of the View As List
screen. When the option to print comes up, be sure that the selection at the top of the print
screen is “Records Being Browsed,” and that you have selected “All” pages. Otherwise,
you will only get one line of text or one invoice
Q:
From within Inventory, after I have selected an item from List View to look at
individually (in Form View), the “Next Record” and “Previous Record” buttons
don’t seem to work. I know that I have more records to view. What gives?
A:
If you have more than one item in inventory, clicking on the “Next Record” or “Previous
Record” buttons from within Form View should step you through each item alphabetically.
If these buttons appear not to do anything, try clicking on the “Find All” button at the top
of the screen first, and then try the Forward or Back buttons again.
Q:
I want to print out a patient’s billing onto a HCFA 1500 form. What fields do I
need to fill out on which screens, and what’s the fastest, easiest way to do so?
A:
To start with, you should set up the Billing preferences from the “More…” tab, which may
be found when you click on the Preferences button from the Main Menu. Set the Default
Invoice field to “HCFA 1500 Form;” and set up the HCFA 1500, Box 24 fields to preenter any information that you use repeatedly in those fields (line 24 a-k) on the HCFA
form.
A-8
Frequently Asked Questions
Once these preferences are set, you can go to Patient Information and Billing from the
Main Menu and, when you enter a new patient’s information, be sure to enter data into all
fields that have HCFA line numbers associated with them. (If the patient is already in the
database, click on the patient’s name in the View As List mode when you first enter the
Patient Information database, and then click on View As Form or on the little button to
the left of the patient’s name to go directly to the Patient Info. screen.) Once these fields
have been properly filled out for a given patient, you can run as many HCFA invoices for
this patient as you like without needing to re-enter this information. Click on the large
pink button at the bottom of the Patient Info. screen, or simply click on the Billing tab.
From the Billing tab, click on the “New HCFA” button near the bottom of the screen.
This takes you to a screen where your diagnoses should already appear (you entered them
in the previous HCFA Info screen). Tab down to the Procedures section and put in the
dates of service. If you had pre-entered information in the HCFA 1500, Box 24 fields in
the Main Menu Preferences, those pre-entries will appear automatically after you enter a
date of service.
Assuming that you have filled out the above screen properly, you may click on the “Print
HCFA” button at the top of this screen to print the invoice onto a HCFA 1500 form. If
your printout does not align properly with the HCFA, click on the “Align HCFA” button
at the top of this screen to align it more exactly.
See the “Using the Patient Information and Billing Database” section of the user’s
manual for more detailed information about printing onto HCFA 1500 forms.
Q:
I understand that AcuBase can be set up to work with a Palm OS-based handheld
device. How do I synch my Palm device up with AcuBase?
A:
Yes, certain features of AcuBaseTM are available for synchronization with your Palm
device. You need a Palm OS compatible handheld with at least 2 MB of storage, the
Palm OS 3.1 or greater, and a HotSync cradle or cable. Windows users need an Intelcompatible computer with a Pentium 90 or greater, 32 or more MB of RAM. Mac users
need 32 MB of RAM and Mac OS version 8.1 through version 9 (the Palm features do not
yet work with OS X).
In addition to the above hardware, you also need to have FileMaker Pro 5.0v3 loaded
onto your machine, as well as FileMaker Mobile. For more information on FileMaker
products, visit http://www.filemaker.com.
At the time of this writing, FileMaker Mobile will not support relational aspects of
relational databases on the Palm platform. Because AcuBase is a relational database,
made up of about 30 smaller databases, you will need to load several of these databases
onto your Palm device. Further, FileMaker Mobile will only support up to 20 fields per
Frequently Asked Questions
A-9
database! Thus, some of the most useful information from several of the databases in
AcuBase may be loaded onto your Palm device, but, like most Palm-enabled programs,
you will not have the same functionality on your handheld as you do on your desktop. We
here at Trigram Software recommend that you use your Palm device to load reference
library information, such as acupoints, herbs, and formula information, as well as a limited
amount of patient information.
Once you have FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Mobile, and AcuBaseTM loaded onto your
desktop, you will need to open AcuBase from within FileMaker Pro. Open FileMaker Pro
and, from within FileMaker, go to the File menu, Open, and elect to Show: All Available
Files. Then go to the AcuBaseTM directory and open the Mainmenu.tcm file. (The
AcuBase directory is located at C:\program files\ trigram software for PC users [where C:
equals the hard drive letter].)
Once the Main Menu is open, you will want to make sure to open all of the databases you
would like to synchronize with your Palm device, and then perform a “HotSync” operation. But before your first HotSync, you will need to enable the databases that you wish
to have sync’ed up between your Palm device and your computer. Doing this requires
that follow the directions in Chapter 2: Setting Up FileMaker Mobile, in FileMaker
Mobile’s user’s manual.
Within the context of setting up FileMaker Mobile (the instructions from Chapter 2 of
FileMaker Mobile’s user’s manual), you are asked to set up each database, and to select
up to 20 fields from each database to appear on your handheld. We recommend the
following databases and their fields, which may be opened from within FileMaker Pro.
(Go to the File menu, Open, and elect to Show: All Available Files. Then go to the
AcuBase directory and open the Mainmenu.tcm file. The AcuBase directory is located at
C:\program files\ trigram software for PC users [where C: equals the hard drive letter].)
Patients.tcm: This database holds a lot of your patients’ basic information, such as
addresses, insurance company info, etc. As part of the required setup, from Chapter 2
of FileMaker Mobile’s user’s manual, we recommend that you use the following fields
from this database, in the following order: Last Name, First Name, Provider, DOB,
SS NO, Street Address, City, State, Zip Code, emergency contact, emergency phone,
Type of Case, InsurCompany, Insurcompanyaddress, insurcompanycity,
insurcompanystate, insurcompanyzip, insurcompanyphone.
Because the patient phone numbers and billing information are kept in several
separate databases, that information will not appear here.
Diag.tcm: This database holds all of the diagnoses and their ICD-9 codes. We
recommend that you use the following fields from this database, in the following
order: Diagnosis1, ID No1.
A-10
Frequently Asked Questions
Txcodes.tcm: This database holds all of the procedures, their CPT codes, and the
price you charge for each treatment. We recommend that you use the following fields
from this database, in the following order: Treatment, ID No, Price, Tax, Total.
Acupts.tcm: This database holds all information related to acupuncture points and
their indications. To put all of the acupuncture point information on your handheld,
we recommend that you use the following fields from this database, in the following
order: Point Number,Pinyin, English, Area of Body, Location Descr, T Function,
Indications.
Herbs: This database holds most information related to herbs and their indications.
We recommend that you use the following fields from this database, in the following
order: H Pinyin Name, H Latin orPharm, H English, H Classif, H Properties, H
Channels, H actions and indics, H Major combos, H Contrainds, H descr of appearance, h dosage and the prep.
As per the FileMaker Mobile instructions, remember that you need to have these databases
open when you do your HotSync operation, and each database’s found set should contain
the records you would like to transfer to your handheld. To find all records in each
database, once the database is open on your computer, PC users hold down the Ctrl
button and the letter “J” on the keyboard; Mac users the Apple/Command button and the
letter “J”. You may not see anything happen on the screen, and that’s okay.
While the current state of integration between AcuBaseTM and Palm-based handhelds is
quite limited at the present time, the features and capabilities in this area will only expand
and get more complex in time. At the time of this writing (November 2002), FileMaker
Mobile is in its second incarnation (version 2.0). As the FileMaker product matures, so
too will the integration between AcuBase on Palm-based devices and the computer. In the
mean time, if you have further questions about how to get portions of AcuBase onto your
Palm-based handheld, please feel free to call our technical support line at 1-8884ACUBASE, or 1-510-654-3268.
Q:
Will AcuBase work on other handhelds that are not Palm OS-based (such as
Windows CE)?
A:
At the time of this writing, no. But FileMaker, the makers of the database that AcuBaseTM
was created in, promises to have a Windows CE-based version out soon. As soon as it is
available for FileMaker, we will make it available to our users, as well.
For answers to these questions, and many future updates, be sure to check our website
frequently at http://www.trigram.com.
Appendix B: Technical Support
For any AcuBaseTM questions or problems, start by checking the user’s manual, the Trigram Software
support page at http://www.trigram.com, or contact Trigram Software Monday through Friday from 9 AM
to 5 PM US Pacific Time. Phone U.S. toll-free 1-888-4ACUBASE (1-888-422-8227), 510.654.3268, or email [email protected].
AcuBaseTM 2.003 comes with 90 minutes of free customer support. After that, we charge $99 per year for
10 hours of support and unlimited upgrades. Otherwise, the minimum charge for support is $15 for the first
fifteen minutes, then $1.00 per minute after that, or a $45 flat rate per call, on your Visa or MasterCard.
It is important that you register your copy of AcuBaseTM as soon as you receive the program so that you
may get support and upgrade pricing in the future. You may register by sending in the registration card that
is in the front of this manual, or by e-mailing your name, address, phone number, date of purchase, and
vendor name (from whom you purchased AcuBaseTM) to [email protected]. You may also mail this
information to Trigram Software, Attn: Registration, 6114 LaSalle Ave., PMB 230, Oakland, CA 94611.
Note that:
•
Your free 90 minutes of support does not include help related to how to do your billing, i.e., which
codes are appropriate to use, how many procedures to bill, etc. We also charge for all help related to
electronic billing (which is included in the $99 per year support contract mentioned above).
•
Your software license permits you to install and use one copy of the program on one machine only.
Trigram Software does not support the use of AcuBaseTM in more than one location or over a network.
•
If you choose to use a password and later forget it and/or get locked out of the program for any reason,
Trigram Software will charge you a fee to unlock your program and reset the password to blank.
•
Trigram Software support will NOT assist you in the event that you attempt to change default layouts
and/or lose data after modifying the Activities or Billing databases. If you decide to modify these files,
it is assumed that you know and understand the intricacies of FileMaker Pro, and you do so at your own
risk.
•
If you are using electronic billing features and have any issues related to the billing clearinghouse’s
(Abrea’s) reporting or claims submission processes, these issues should be handled by Abrea directly.
Contact Abrea Customer Service at (973) 353-6209 Monday through Friday Eastern Standard (east
coast) time. You may also check their website at http://www.abreaedi.com, email them at
[email protected], or write to them at:
Abrea Technologies, Inc.
P.O. Box 1358
Newark, NJ 07101
B-2
Technical Support